Marriage and Mortality

by Red_Tea_Cup

Summary:

Regency AU

Every autumn, yokai parliament opens in the sky above the human town of Ichiba. Rin, a human woman living in genteel poverty, has formed a peculiar friendship with the preeminent yokai lord, Sesshomaru. On the cusp of spinsterhood and with nothing left to lose, Rin contrives to engage Sesshomaru's honour – and his hand in marriage.

Notes:

• For LuvinAniManga.

Happy holidays, LuvinAniManga!
From your Secret Santa.

This story was beta'd by [redacted] and [redacted].

Chapter 1: As It Is Every Year...

‘Lightning in the sky. I suppose you’ve been waiting for it. Mr Todai saw it just this afternoon, as he was leaving the circulating library.’

With a voice airy and casual, Rin asked, ‘Lightning and what else?’ On the cusp of entering the parlour from the hallway, she paused at the door. North facing windows provided only vague sunshine in mid-afternoon. ‘Lightning and thunder is just a rainstorm. Lightning and fire, that would be something.’

‘Mr Todai didn’t say anything else.’ Seated on a worn sofa, Kaede reached without looking into the work basket at her feet and pulled out threadbare white muslin. ‘Only lightning. But it will be as it is every year – the yokai season.’

‘I like yokai parliament.’ Rin crossed the room to a small desk, fetching a pair of scissors and handing them to her companion. Then, she lit a candle and set it on the table near the sofa. Kaede’s eye was not what it once was. ‘Don’t you feel like they must get so much more done than human parliament?’

‘Uncivilised.’ Kaede clicked her tongue.

‘The papers say human lords yell at one another all day long, and then cut private deals in backrooms. Yokai don’t pretend to be civilised. It’s more honest.’

The muslin was once a shirt, and Kaede’s halting fingers aimed to ensure it would be a shirt again. ‘Your young man will be in town soon, I imagine.’

‘Lord Sesshomaru is not mine!’ Rin protested. ‘Or young. I asked him once, he said he doesn’t know how old he is. Yokai don’t keep count. They don’t see a point.’

Sighing, the old woman said, ‘I suppose not. He hasn’t aged a day since he brought you here. I remember him coming to parliament when I was a little girl. He looked the same then, too. The yokai season is open, mark my words. Mr Todai’s lightning was no incoming thunderstorm. Experience has taught me that. I have been on this earth sixty-two years and every one of my bones feels it when it rains. You, my dear, will have twenty-seven years next spring, by my count. Unmarried at your age – you feel the weight of time every day, too, one would think.’

Rin busied herself clearing some books off the table. The circulating library would not easily forget tea stains. ‘Seven and twenty and still not married shall not bother me,’ she said. ‘Perhaps I have been made to wait longer than most to be courted, but I would rather wait a century for the right man than marry anybody in haste.’

Kaede chuckled. ‘You spend too much time watching the skies for yokai. Human women don’t have a century.’

‘Well then!’ Fists on her hips and shoulders squared, Rin tossed her head with bravado. ‘I have had the very best example of spinsterhood in my dear Kaede. So when I am on the shelf, I shall still be content.’

Kaede shook her head. Anyone else would have told Rin she should be terrified. She had no money of her own, no worthwhile connexions. Although born into a genteel family, all of their wealth and land had been tied up in a tail-male. Only a child when her parents died, the inheritance that justice would have designated Rin’s went instead to a miserly cousin uninterested in maintaining her. Neglect and misadventure had ultimately ended when Rin arrived on Kaede’s doorstop at ten years old. The local gentry, living on their great estates just outside of Ichiba, kept them housed and fed, clothed and entertained. Kaede’s father had been a respected parson, beloved by the entire town. Her older sister, beautiful, dutiful and serene, had likewise been intended for the church until death took her tragically young. The townspeople would allow no further calamity to fall upon Kaede. She, like Rin, had already lost far too much. A word of wisdom here and there, and a bit of work at the church, and their benefactors were satisfied the women had returned their investment. 

‘No,’ Kaede agreed. ‘A human girl who befriends yokai would not be frightened by anything so mundane as spinsterhood.’

Rin smiled. ‘I am not as brave as you think. For example, I am rather afraid you will cut yourself if you insist on doing the darning in such poor light!’

Chapter 2: A Man of Wealth and Taste

‘Lord Sesshomaru, ma’am.’

Their guest’s formidable height was exaggerated by a low doorway that required him to bow his head to enter. Not sparing a glance at the maid, he instead regarded Kaede with cool detachment. The old woman rose and curtseyed slightly, little more than a dip of her shoulders.

‘Where is the boy?’ Lord Sesshomaru asked.

Kaede tutted. ‘We don’t keep a boy any longer, Sesshomaru.’ Strained finances had led to Kohaku’s dismissal the previous spring. Tall as he was handsome, and stronger than he looked, Kohaku had found a better position as a footman nearly the moment his shoe touched the street. As their benefactors would not see them without any comforts, they could still afford a maid. With the door answered and the visitor announced, Kaede sent the young girl scurrying off to prepare the tea. 

Sesshomaru’s eyes scanned the room carefully. ‘I have brought two trunks.’

‘Rin will be pleased, if we manage to find someone to bring them upstairs.’

Kaede’s rooms consisted of a second storey apartment in the heart of Ichiba. Rin often liked to sit by the windows and watch the busy street below. The ground floor was the chandler’s shop, and the circulating library was just across the way. The sitting room was comfortable, though the furnishings were too old to be considered fashionable. Aside from the wide window sill where Rin had put a cushion, the cramped parlour boasted of two sofas with a table between them, an upright writing desk, and the fireplace.

‘The stairs are dark and narrow,’ Lord Sesshomaru observed.

‘And we are two poor women,’ Kaede replied. ‘The stairs are precisely as wide and well-lit as they need to be.’

As always, Lord Sesshomaru chose the red sofa. The worn cushions sank beneath his weight. Even by the standards of yokai, Lord Sesshomaru was a man of considerable size, tall and broad.

Yokai parliament opened its autumn session in the skies above Ichiba every year. To the human residents, it was an unremarkable market town. Everybody knew everybody, and no one had ever kept a secret. Someone was forever being born or dying, being baptised or married, their family known at least four generations back and across three removals of cousins. Yokai were long-lived creatures. A human baby would grow old and turn to dust before a yokai considered passing a milestone of their own. A comparatively small population, yokai considered the density of Ichiba that of a bustling metropolis. The smells, noise, and fast-paced living of a human city was intolerable to yokai. They were not resistant to change, but their progress happened at a speed almost undetectable to humans. Strength alone decided yokai law, and from the opening of parliament at the dawn of autumn to its close at the approach of spring, yokai battled viciously.  

Rin appeared in the doorway. Despite the small size of their household, a single servant held many duties. After announcing Lord Sesshomaru and before putting the water on for tea, she had also sent for Rin. Curtsying deeply, she welcomed him. ‘Lord Sesshomaru, you have returned! We are so glad to see you again.’

‘Two trunks,’ Kaede said.

Rin dropped to the cream coloured sofa beside Kaede. ‘Thank you!’ Her cheeks flushed. ‘You do far too much for me, Lord Sesshomaru!’ 

‘Nonsense.’

When Lord Sesshomaru came to Ichiba, primed to defend his interests in battle, he first visited Kaede and Rin. Like human genteel townsfolk, he contributed to the upkeep of the two ladies. Lord Sesshomaru’s offering was clothing for Rin. He brought gowns enough that one might think when parliament was closed, Lord Sesshomaru did nothing but study the latest fashions among human women. 

‘Is your family in good health?’ Rin asked. ‘Your mother and your younger brother?’

‘Word of their deaths has not reached me,’ Lord Sesshomaru replied, ‘so I must conclude they are.’

Rin laughed. Lord Sesshomaru had a very dry sense of humour. She never tired of being scandalised by it, though she was under the impression that there was sincerity in his words. Yokai of Lord Sesshomaru’s stature seemed very solitary and uninterested in the family.

‘And what have you done since we saw you last?’ Rin wondered. ‘Did you travel much over the summer?’

‘Yes.’ Lord Sesshomaru did not elucidate where he had gone. 

‘Have you seen the Lakes?’

‘Many.’

With eagerness and mirth, Rin leaned toward him. ‘You know I mean the Lake District in the west! Have you been there?’

His brow furrowed. ‘Perhaps. Our ideas of the districts of the country are different from yours.’

‘Alright. Have you seen – to your own thinking – the most beautiful lakes the country has to offer?’

‘I have no interest in the beauty of a lake.’

‘You would,’ Rin promised, ‘if you ever looked at Mr Todai’s pond and thought, I have never seen waters more beautiful than this because it’s not very beautiful at all. Anything would be nicer.’

‘Then by your own admission, you have seen greater beauty.’

‘In that case,’ Rin agreed, ‘you must be right. Are you staying for tea?’

Kaede looked towards the hallway. ‘It should be here any minute now.’

‘No need,’ he answered. Lord Sesshomaru rose. ‘I must be going. I’ll have my man bring the trunks.’

Shaking her head, Rin protested, ‘Master Jaken is no taller than your knees! How is he to bring two trunks up these stairs?’

Lord Sesshomaru seemed to consider it. Then he said, ‘I recommend you watch. It shall be entertaining.’

Chapter 3: A Woman Living in the World

Yokai survived on strength and those without lived by their wit.

Master Jaken had neither.

Barely as tall as the trunks themselves, Master Jaken stood on the step above and pulled on the handle of the first with all his might. Once he had managed to drag the trunk diagonally to his chest, he would cautiously feel for the next step, hoist himself up and pull again.

By Rin’s count, he had dropped the trunk no less than four times. It would slide down the steps to slam against the door leading outside. 

Lord Sesshomaru said it would be entertaining. Standing at the top of the stairs, Rin did laugh the first time the trunk careened to the bottom of the steps, undoing half a staircase’s worth of progress. By the third time, it was just pitiful. After the fourth, Rin winced and prayed no lasting damage would be done to the door. The apartment was draughty enough. ‘Allow me to assist you!’

No strength, no wit, but possessing ample pride, Master Jaken shouted, ‘Certainly not! What makes you think a human girl can do something a powerful yokai such as myself cannot?’

Rin replied, ‘I’m tall enough to walk up the steps.’

Master Jaken grumbled.

After the fifth time he dropped the trunk, she cried, ‘At least open the door!’ and after the sixth time, Rin ran down before he could position the trunk to start again. ‘I’m just going to stand behind it,’ she said, ‘so that it won’t fall.’ Once she was there, visions of Jaken losing his grip and the trunk bruising her shins and knocking her down the stairs danced across her eyes. So Rin picked it up by the opposite handle. ‘Oof!’

The trunk was far heavier than she had anticipated. It looked so lovely, encased in white leather with brass lining the edges. A gold nameplate in the very centre of the lid declared the trunk belonged to Lord Sesshomaru in elegant script. 

Even with two of them working at it, progress was slow. Master Jaken’s height made it awkward for him to carry anything up the steps, but with Rin supporting some of the weight, he was better able to hold on. 

They made it to the top of the steps without dropping it again. Master Jaken immediately fell to the floor, slumped against the trunk and wiping his brow. 

‘I,’ he croaked, ‘dread the day you have children, Rin.’

Choking on a gasp, Rin said, ‘What?’

Groaning, the imp threw his arms wide and slid down the trunk until he himself lay fully splayed on the floor. ‘Because then my lord will dote on them too, and I will have a dozen trunks to drag up these horrible stairs instead of just the one!’ 

Rin sank to her knees beside him, the existence of a second trunk equally far from her mind. ‘Master Jaken, what, what do you mean?’ Did he imagine Lord Sesshomaru was hers for the taking? Had his superior knowledge of Lord Sesshomaru put him in a better way of knowing their lord’s intentions? Could it be that the vicious yokai who professed little interest in his family would be such an indulgent father?

‘Humans always beget more humans,’ Jaken continued. ‘Then the grandchildren. And the great-grandchildren! A century from now my life will be nothing but dragging trunks up these steps. Day in, day out.’

Humans did not have centuries. Master Jaken would watch her descendants far longer than Rin could ever hope to. She was jealous, suddenly – of Master Jaken’s happy luck to watch them all grow, of his certainty that he would always be at Lord Sesshomaru’s side, that he would know generations of darling children living idyllic lives on a sprawling estate, growing up to become the leaders of tomorrow, and the day after.

Smiling, Rin said, ‘Don’t worry too much, Master Jaken. That many people can’t live in this little apartment.’

He raised himself on his elbows. ‘You can’t?’

Rin laughed. Would yokai ever understand human population density? ‘It’s barely enough room for Kaede and I! If we were to marry and have the dozen children you picture, we’d need a much bigger house and a lot more servants than just you and a maid.’ 

‘Then what are you waiting for?’ Master Jaken leapt to his feet. ‘Marry somebody! For my sake!’

Rin rolled her eyes. ‘Now you think I should marry just anybody! What happened to marrying Lord Sesshomaru?’

The furrow of Jaken’s brow was so exaggerated it seemed to take over his entire countenance. Every feature radiated stark disapproval, from his bulging yellow eyes to his prominent beak. ‘Lord Sesshomaru would never marry a human! No, you go do – I don’t know – whatever it is humans do.’

Rin made her debut in human society at the unremarkable age of seventeen years. Girls with single older sisters could expect to come out later; if a lady’s peculiar situation required immediate liberation from the family’s purse, necessity would drive her to debut younger. Without siblings and her companion in no hurry to lose her, Rin’s entrance into the marriage mart had been without fanfare. 

As the years passed, Rin had seen many other ladies marry. The genteel families left their estates and brought their daughters into the capital when the human parliament was in session. Families without means contented themselves with a local match. When a young lady married a man she had known all her life, she was in the enviable position of knowing precisely what sort of a man he really was. No outbursts of passion or gentleness of spirit could take her by surprise. 

Nine years without a suitor had effectively quashed Rin’s hopes of marriage. Ever since her arrival at Kaede’s door, she engaged herself in being an industrious companion and help to the old woman. She was confident she had the right temperament to make a fine wife, but respect for Kaede prevented any ambitious farmer from making an offer when Rin was so far above his station by birth. And despite being born into enviable circumstances, the ensuing tragedies had left Rin without money of her own. A gentleman with any sense would not have her. When educated women found themselves in such a predicament, the answer was employment. But Rin had never learnt to play the piano, or paint, or any other marvellous skill a governess ought to teach their charges. The charity of their neighbours kept Kaede and Rin in comfort, but they could not afford many indulgences. 

Unless a man with more valour than prudence were to rescue her, Rin was trapped in a life of genteel poverty.

To become a spinster did not frighten Rin. Society preached that a woman could not be content without a husband and children, but Rin had watched Kaede long enough to know the happiness that could be found in solitude. Rin could serve the community as Kaede did, with wit and wisdom, and in turn, the genteel families would ensure she was never hungry, lonely, or without a roof.

Rin was not frightened.

And yet, was it so unbelievable that a happier outcome should be beyond her reach?

By all accounts, a gentleman showing marked preference to a lady was indicative of an impending marriage. Perhaps because he was a yokai, Lord Sesshomaru’s attention to Rin had never produced any particular expectations. But why should that be? Yokai were not incapable of enjoying the company of a favoured companion. By all rights, Lord Sesshomaru’s honour should be engaged. 

Perhaps it was only a matter of helping him see it.

‘Yes,’ Master Jaken decided, speaking entirely to himself and uninterested in the revelations happening within the woman beside him. ‘You marry – whoever – and let his servants worry about what Lord Sesshomaru brings you. And I’ll be free!’

Rin licked her lips. ‘You might be right, Master Jaken.’

Startled, the imp stared at her. Then, with a proud puff of his chest, declared, ‘Of course I am!’

Chapter 4: A Gentleman's Honour

Framed by the doorway of the sitting room, Lord Sesshomaru looked pointedly about the parlour. ‘Where is the old woman?’

‘Kaede is at the church,’ Rin said, rising from the cream coloured sofa. ‘So you must endure having no one present who will disrespect you.’ Spreading her skirts, she curtsied. ‘I hope you won’t miss it very much.’

Taking his customary seat, Lord Sesshomaru answered, ‘Not as such.’ 

Rin remained standing, her heart lodged curiously high in her throat. 

As far as she could tell, her position in his life was unique. No other young lady in Ichiba claimed friendship with Lord Sesshomaru or any other yokai. Nor could any lady say they had spent an entire summer travelling with him, though admittedly, that had happened during her childhood. Since settling in Ichiba, Rin waited every year for him to return, and he did so reliably.  

Typically, he called at his own leisure, not worrying himself with the need for an invitation. Kaede was always present - the two ladies would sit together on the cream coloured sofa, engage their guest in as much conversation as he could tolerate, and then see him out before tea could be poured. Never before had Rin penned a note to draw him forth. That she had asked him to come at a time she knew Kaede would be away from home was scarcely more than subterfuge. And though Rin trusted Lord Sesshomaru with all her heart, her success at this endeavour, and to find she truly did have him all to herself, left her unmoored, and feeling as though she were in some great danger. 

The red sofa was wide. Rin was used to thinking of it as being able to accommodate three people easily. Lord Sesshomaru sat in the very centre. He gave his hat and overcoat to the maid when he entered, but he never surrendered that fur boa. It now lay coiled on the right-hand side of the sofa.

Gingerly, Rin sat on Lord Sesshomaru’s left. His eyes tracked her every movement, but his expression did not betray what he thought about this sudden change in her habits.

‘Thank you again,’ Rin said, ‘for the trunks.’ The gown she wore was one of the dozen he had brought, with a constructed bodice in orange trimmed with white lace, and full striped skirt in the same colours. Such a gown ought to be worn with a fichu until evening, but Lord Sesshomaru never stayed for dinner. He was in a better way to appreciate the plunging neckline of modern fashion if she forwent a fichu in the morning.

She swallowed. Her heart did not return to its proper home.

‘How has your residence fared in your absence? Did it get dusty?’

‘Residence?’

Rin threaded her fingers together and propped her folded hands on her knees. An inexperienced seductress, she hadn’t noticed until she did it that such a posture would draw her breasts together, accentuating the cleavage her gown was intended to flaunt – the very reason for a modest fichu. Sharp embarrassment demanded she adopt any other position, but would that not draw greater attention to her ill-timed display? Rin froze, determined to behave as though she were perfectly at ease. After all, she had neglected a fichu in hope he would look down her dress. Rin had simply wished to present a more subtle temptation. 

Conversation faltered for a moment, but soon, she was recovered enough to remember their topic. ‘I know yokai are different from humans, but I like to imagine you have an estate in the clouds. I’m just not sure about the size of it. Human gentlemen measure their land by the acre, and they rent it all to farmers. Your clouds must always change, and I’m not sure what you do with them.’

Sounding mildly surprised, Lord Sesshomaru said, ‘I have nothing of the kind.’

‘Your mother does! You took me there once, remember?’ The memory was fuzzy, but Rin could recall a vast palace, sat atop terraced gardens, lined with yokai soldiers. It was by far the greatest and most imposing structure Rin had ever seen in her entire life. She understood that his late father had been his mother’s social equal. Lord Sesshomaru had claimed his father’s titles. It was logical to assume he must have inherited his father’s house, one just as magnificent as the place he had brought Rin.

He shook his head. ‘She does. I do not.’

‘Then where do you live?’

‘Life is not a place.’

Rin opened her mouth to argue the semantics of his phrasing, but no sooner was she ready than any desire to do so dissipated. ‘You’re right. Home isn’t a place, either, it’s a feeling of belonging. You come to Ichiba every year. You’re the only one who does. I’ve seen other yokai come back for two or three sessions, but you come back every single time. You belong here.’

‘The others die.’

Rin blinked in slow realisation. ‘I thought you were wiping your boots for a long time when you came in. Were they very bloody?’

‘I had a productive morning.’

Leaning in, Rin placed a hand on his forearm. ‘Do you fight every day? Or are you free sometimes?’

‘Every day,’ Lord Sesshomaru answered. He seemed on the precipice of saying something more. His eyes flickered downwards. Rin held her breath.

‘However,’ he added after some time, ‘If you have any special need of my time, do not hesitate to ask.’

Rin smiled. She would hold him to his word. ‘You are far too good to me, Lord Sesshomaru.’

‘Nonsense.’

Chapter 5: An Assembly Such as This

The trunks Lord Sesshomaru had brought contained everything a lady needed for a ball, from an exquisite white gown with a daringly low cut bodice to shoe roses. While the pump rooms and assembly halls of the great human cities were beyond Rin’s means, she did often have the opportunity to socialise. Private balls on great estates were uncommon, but when they did take place, Rin was almost guaranteed an invitation. She danced with great delight in the grand ballrooms of the local magistrates once or twice a year, though she did not have to wait for that. Where there were people and a pianoforte, there would be dancing. Few things were more reliable than the custom of single gentlemen and ladies to count how many were present, and form lines.

Even more reliable still was the public assembly – first Tuesday of the month.

In all his years of attending parliament, Lord Sesshomaru had never come to an assembly before. Formality suited him. Usually, he dressed for activity. Rin was accustomed to seeing him in tall leather boots, simply knotted cravats and jackets of coarse wool. For the ball, he exchanged his boots for silk-embroidered slippers. The knot at his throat was intricate and fashionable. His black jacket and breeches accentuated his powerful figure, and his white stockings displayed a calf so toned Rin could believe human men would have to wear padding to achieve such fine form.

When dancing commenced, they assumed a place at the top of the line. Any yokai would no doubt find themselves enjoying such marked respect at a human event, regardless of their position in society, simply from the fear of what such a creature might do if they considered themselves disrespected. Lord Sesshomaru deserved every bit of the deference he received. Rin looked down the aisle of dancers with pride. To be among people who recognised Lord Sesshomaru’s worthiness was itself a unique blessing.

Their prominence dictated they would select the dance and be the first to perform the steps. Lord Sesshomaru said nothing. Rin winced as she realised her folly. A country dance required study. Each song had its own steps. They needed to be learnt and practised. So pleased to have Lord Sesshomaru agree to attend the ball, Rin had overlooked that he needed to be taught the steps. He could not choose a dance, for he did not know any. 

He watched her, his golden eyes trained on her face. The boa he wore was as ever looped around his shoulder and trailing up on the floor. 

‘The Bride’s Waltz,’ Rin called. ‘Come on.’ She walked between the row of gentlemen and ladies, Lord Sesshomaru at her side. ‘Move up, move up.’ An unorthodox solution, but the only reasonable one. Typically, when a couple were unable to perform the dance they selected, they would be allowed to choose another. Rin had to work around that he did not know any.

The figures of the Bride’s Waltz were all performed by the first and second couples before the third were required to do anything. From their new position, Lord Sesshomaru would be able to watch and absorb the dance. He spent his life in combat. He was very attuned to his own body, Rin knew. After witnessing the dance, he should be able to passably replicate the steps. It was a simple dance, composed mostly of holding hands and walking in circles. When their turn came, the boa no longer dragged across the floor but dangled by his calf. Rin wondered at how he could have tied it up without her noticing so much so that she scarcely appreciated his holding her hands!

For the next dance, they retained their position as third in line. Lord Sesshomaru observed the first two couples perform the more complex Kasasagi. When it was his turn to move down the row hand-in-hand with Rin, he did not hesitate to execute the steps with precision.  

To find herself the object of Lord Sesshomaru’s attention was nothing new to Rin, but in the dance, his looks seemed to possess an entirely different flavour. Rin surrendered to his intensity, never daring to avert her eyes. A crowded ballroom was always hot, but so too was the flush of her body something unfamiliar. His hands clasped hers so resolutely that Rin did not wish to relinquish him when their dances were over. And yet, ballroom etiquette blessed her with only two songs with Lord Sesshomaru.  

Afterwards, they sought out Kaede, who pinned the yokai with a stern glare.

‘Ask another lady to dance,’ the old woman instructed.

Lord Sesshomaru frowned. ‘Pardon?’

‘You danced the first set with Rin. Now you must ask another lady for the next set.’

‘I have no interest in the other women.’

Despite the fact that they were now resting, Rin’s heart began to race once more.

Their elder was not as impressed with the yokai’s words as she. ‘Aloof as you’ve been all these years, rest assured, no one thinks you do. But that’s how things are done.’ Kaede raised her arm, gesturing towards a lady speaking to an older couple. ‘Miss Eri would suit. Her father owns the largest estate in this part of the country. Miss Yuka’s father is the mayor – it would do you good to pay your respects to them as well.’ Kaede scanned the crowd. ‘You may dance with Rin again for the two fourth.’

Lord Sesshomaru demanded, ‘For what purpose?’

Feeling the heat of Kaede’s stare, Rin felt compelled to join her side of the argument. ‘It would be rude otherwise,’ Rin said. ‘There is no one here of your status, of course, but it’s still polite to acknowledge the worthiness of our neighbours. Miss Eri is very kind. She brought me on an excursion to Hako Hill last summer. Miss Yuka is clever. You’ll enjoy conversing with her.’

‘No,’ Lord Sesshomaru said. Kaede’s judgement did not intimidate the yokai lord. He stood his ground, not making the slightest concession. ‘I have come to this assembly at your request. I shall not dance with other humans. If you wish for another dance, I shall oblige, but barring that, I see no reason to mix with such company.’

‘I do want another dance!’ Rin clutched her hands to her chest. Sparing a glance towards Kaede, she added, ‘But if you don’t dance with other ladies first, everyone will think you prefer me and that you have a rather untoward manner of showing it.’

A gentleman without matrimonial intentions should realise his own folly at such a warning. Rin held her breath. 

Lord Sesshomaru regarded her.

Miss Eri and Miss Yuka walked towards the dance floor with other partners, and still Lord Sesshomaru persisted in his stalemate with Rin and Kaede. Finally, he broke the silence. ‘Come.’

Rin took his proffered hand. They took their place in the line, and as Lord Sesshomaru waited for his turn to dance, promise rang out in Rin’s heart.

Chapter 6: Sense and Sensibility

Her preferred seat at the apartment window offered Rin a bird’s eye view of the denizens of Ichiba as they went about their daily lives. To her disappointment, nothing had changed since the ball. Her days were still spent helping out at the church and watching her neighbours. Rin knew who had gone to the circulating library, and who bought candles. She watched ladies promenade in the street and gentlemen collect on corners to talk. Servants on errands ran back and forth beneath her window. The sounds of commotion always reached her ears. And when that commotion concerned Lord Sesshomaru, it was only natural that she threw on a shawl and bonnet, and hurried downstairs.

Although Rin’s disappointment would have her anticipate the opposite, since the assembly, Lord Sesshomaru seemed to be mixing more with humans. He stood in the street in front of the chandler’s shop beside a handsome curricle. It belonged to him, that was immediately evident. A human gentleman’s carriage would be pulled by two matched horses. Lord Sesshomaru’s was hitched to a single two-headed dragon.  

‘Rin.’ He held out his hand. 

That very hand had caused her so much humiliation! Her pleasure at being shown such marked preference at the assembly had withered when no proposal followed. And now, in full view of so many of her neighbours, he offered it again.

As her fingers slipped into his waiting palm, Rin realised she could never refuse him anything. He handed her into the carriage. 

‘You drive,’ Rin marvelled. ‘I hadn’t known that about you!’

Lord Sesshomaru hoisted himself into the seat beside her, arranging his boa before picking up the reins.

‘Because you can fly,’ she added, with a self-conscious blush. His preferred conveyance, to her, had always seemed to be his own two feet. Rin had never understood that. ‘If I could fly,’ she promised, ‘I would never do anything else!’

‘You would tire of it,’ Lord Sesshomaru said.

Rin gasped. ‘I would not!’

‘Are you always pleased with walking?’

She and Kaede could not afford a carriage of their own or the horses to pull it. ‘I don’t travel far from home much,’ Rin admitted, ‘so walking suits.’

‘You enjoy a drive?’ Lord Sesshomaru guided the curricle down the street at a jaunty speed. It was an excursion of which even the most prudish chaperone could not disapprove. From the populated streets of Ichiba, they headed towards the park. 

‘Oh, yes! Especially like this, in an open carriage on a beautiful day, and with you, and I have never seen a curricle pulled by a dragon before, so that makes it all the more exciting!’

‘What do you think of boats?’

‘Boats,’ Rin repeated. Such strange questions! ‘I have never been on a boat, but I suppose I should like to.’

‘I recall you ride.’

‘Oh.’ Air squeezed from her lungs, Rin stiffened. She looked away. ‘That was so long ago. I haven’t had a horse of my own since my parents died.’

‘Yet,’ came Lord Sesshomaru’s voice, drawing her away from melancholy, ‘none of these pursuits lose their charm because you can walk.’

She wrinkled her nose. ‘No! They are all very different!’

‘If you could fly,’ Lord Sesshomaru said, ‘it would be much the same.’

‘I refuse to believe it!’ Rin cried, a smile curling her lips. ‘Flying could never, ever be mundane! Even if you do it everyday, it must always be exciting!’

Lord Sesshomaru seemed to consider it for a moment, then without a word, slapped the reins against the dragon’s back. The two heads snorted and thrashed. They took to the air, bringing the curricle with them.

Rin shrieked. Tightly gripping the side of the carriage, she leaned over. She saw the park. They climbed higher, and the buildings came into view. The farmland of the great estates that bordered the town were like so many checkerboards on the landscape, each field and each crop its own colour. She laughed and clapped Lord Sesshomaru’s shoulder. ‘Look! Look at how green it all is! Isn’t it funny to think that’s our livelihoods? The whole town, every family, all depending on the farms.’

The dragon ran across clouds. 

A yokai with a long black braid and wheels on his ankles wove through the air as though he were ice skating. 

‘Parliament!’ Rin cried. ‘Where is his opponent? What are they fighting over?’

‘Inheritance rights.’

Rin whipped around to face Lord Sesshomaru. ‘Really! What’s his position?’

‘Hiten believes the wealth of the family should be split evenly among siblings and would like to see a mandated end to the common practice of placing stewardship over the family legacy on the oldest surviving child.’ 

‘Is he very close to his siblings or trying to avoid responsibility?’

‘The former, though it matters not. If he wins today, I will kill him myself another time.’

‘Would it not sow discord among families to leave the younger siblings destitute?’

Lord Sesshomaru smiled grimly. ‘No more so than denying the eldest their due.’

‘But,’ Rin cried, ‘you could not wish to see your own younger children impoverished!’

He looked at her. Almost reassuring was his tone when Lord Sesshomaru said, ‘Their strength will carry them through any hardship.’

Rin bit her lip. ‘And what about daughters? Do yokai ever stop a daughter from inheriting?’

Once upon a time, generations ago, long before herself or even her father had been born, some ancestor of Rin’s decided he knew her well enough to know she must never be allowed stewardship of her ancestral lands. So confident was he that any theoretical woman was unworthy and incapable, Rin – a real flesh and blood person – had suffered for it. As though losing her parents hadn’t been evil enough, she had been made a stranger in her own home. One by one, creature comforts had been denied her. First her horse, then her education, and finally even a warm bedroom of her own.

Human men agreed with the tail-male, happily signing away the lives and privileges of any potential daughters because they favoured sons they were yet to have. Men like that saw a daughter as a leech. A woman took her possessions from the coffers of her family and surrendered it all to a husband. A daughter was grasping, and selfish, and inevitably gone.  

‘If we ever had,’ Lord Sesshomaru replied, ‘a righteously angry heiress came to parliament and put a stop to it aeons ago.’

Strength alone decided yokai law. Any children of Lord Sesshomaru would be like him – fully able to carve their own destinies.

Nodding, Rin said, ‘Good.’

Chapter 7: Given Rise to Expectations

‘Three hours.’

Rin tossed her head. The window seat was calling to her, promising still more exciting discoveries about Lord Sesshomaru if only she were vigilant.

‘Kaede, I know it wasn’t that long! Lord Sesshomaru drove up the road, to the park, and then we watched the fights in parliament for a bit.’

Sighing, the old woman sank into the cream coloured sofa. She outstretched her arm, and Rin took the proffered hand in friendship. ‘You are no fool, Rin.’

‘I should hope not!’

Kaede tugged, and Rin acquiesced, dropping onto the sofa herself. ‘A drive with a young man down a road where your neighbours can see you is perfectly fine. Flying around the sky without a chaperone, where no one can see you or verify what you’ve done, is not.’

‘We were seen! The other yokai saw us!’ 

‘You know that will count for nothing when the news circulates. The assembly can be excused – people love gossip, but they are good at heart. When I explain that Sesshomaru does not understand our customs and you did not wish to embarrass him, everyone is sympathetic. The people of this town are accustomed to the eccentricities of yokai. You are fortunate it happened here and not anywhere else. But three hours alone in a carriage! I cannot invent an excuse for that! Rin, you should have insisted he take you home the moment the wheels left the ground.’

Glowering and leaning back, Rin bit, ‘I am not a child, Kaede. You can’t chastise me like this!’

‘And just what are you hoping to accomplish?’

Rin startled.

‘The maid told me,’ Kaede confessed. ‘That he has been coming here when I am not.’

Blushing furiously, Rin glared at the door. ‘I had not known she was so untrustworthy.’

‘Yokai are not men. You know that.’

Snorting, Rin said, ‘They are better than men. They are more honest, more straightforward, better at recognising the value of a woman.’

Kaede nodded once. ‘I was afraid of this. When you came out, and Lord Sesshomaru started bringing you gifts, I thought a courtship was inevitable.’

Wounded, Rin cried, ‘You disapprove?’

‘No, no. I have known Sesshomaru nearly all my life. From a distance, but I’ve known him. You think you are the only one who sees him for what he is, but I do, too. He is dependable. Steady. Principled, though I would be lying if I said I agree with his principles. I was certain he would court you. But he did not.’

Rin balled her hands into fists.

‘He has had nine years to make you an offer, Rin.’ Despite their gentle tone, Kaede’s words stung badly. ‘He did not. And instead of accepting it – what? You find yourself growing stale and neglected and think you can push him into making a proposal?’

Her mouth suddenly dry, Rin swallowed. 

Kaede was not about to allow her any proclamation of innocence. ‘You arrange that he comes when I am not home. You invited him to that assembly knowing he would not dance with any other lady. You stayed in that carriage long after you should have left.’

‘He doesn’t have to come,’ Rin protested weakly. ‘He could have refused the invitation to the assembly. He asked me on the carriage ride. I may be guilty, but he’s complicit in all of it!’

‘What a cold comfort that will be,’ Kaede said gravely, ‘when you are alone, your reputation too ruined for any other man to consider you.’

Rin shook her head. ‘Everyone knows – everyone knows when a man’s conduct is such that a lady can reasonably expect a proposal, his honour is engaged. Sooner or later, Lord Sesshomaru will have to offer for me.’

Kaede bowed her head. ‘A human man, yes, but you are entangled with a yokai. He comes here each year to kill everyone who disagrees with him. What honour does he have?’

A chill crept down Rin’s spine.

What honour, indeed?

Chapter 8: One Moment

Several sleepless nights and a tear-stained pillow later, Rin was tolerably acquainted with the answer to Kaede’s question. Indeed, Lord Sesshomaru was everything the old woman claimed – dependable, steady, and principled. Once granted, his protection never wavered. He had a calm demeanour. Observation suggested no single combatant had shaped yokai law more than the preeminent Lord Sesshomaru. 

If she were to explain how human society viewed their relationship, Rin was certain he would see reason, and ask for her hand in marriage. 

Doubtless, it was wrong to expect too much humanity from a yokai. That was their folly, not his. When Rin debuted in society and Lord Sesshomaru began to bring her gifts, Kaede assumed a proposal would follow. Marked attention paid to a lady could only mean one thing, and always, it was easier to trust a long-standing friend than some suitor one had just met. The years wore on. Lord Sesshomaru betrayed no intentions of the kind. The naivety that prevented Rin from feeling ill-used by such conduct faded as she aged. Now she was six and twenty, the bloom of her youth fading quickly. Lord Sesshomaru eternally retained his beauty. The same could not be said for a human.

But still, he was honourable. Any disappointment was rooted in their own mistakes, too eager to see a thoroughly inhuman creature as one of their own.

Rin had long preferred the company of yokai to humans. 

In another life, she had seen her parents ripped from her and her home fall into the hands of a cousin so cruel he chipped away at every bit of comfort Rin could find. He sold her horse, hollow promises of buying her a new one once the finances were in order leading, predictably, to naught. He let go of her governess, citing his own children were much younger and required a wet nurse and nannies instead. Rin’s education was left to stagnate. Moved out of the nursery far too young, the otherwise abandoned schoolroom was half-converted into a bedroom for her before the project was forgotten. Too old to eat in the nursery and too young to eat in the dining room, her meals came when the maids remembered someone else lived in the house.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the neglected orphan took to wandering far from home in search of peace. Instead she found horror, her own death, and a godlike yokai who, for the price of some small kindness she could not pinpoint, raised her from the dead and granted her his protection.

Lord Sesshomaru brought her to a better home, with kinder humans. It was a place where neighbours were invested in the well-being of neighbours. Here, hunger was answered with food and cold with blankets. Keeping the memory of the dear departed meant never leaving the living in need, and so the neglected daughters of the community were cared for.

The generosity of the human gentry was enough. Once she entered Kaede’s household, the gentleman and ladies of the great estates treated Rin with the same respect the beloved parson’s daughter enjoyed. She belonged. She would never want for material comforts. A life in genteel poverty was one without luxuries, but already, Rin had learnt that was not a source of happiness. 

Love was.

Lord Sesshomaru had granted Rin his protection. That he returned every year, bearing elaborate gifts, suggested a continuing investment in her life and well-being. If Rin were to simply explain how humans viewed their relationship, Lord Sesshomaru’s manifest honour would demand he set it all to rights. He would assume the responsibility of being her husband.

A human life was a mere moment to a yokai. Rin had become a woman while Lord Sesshomaru remained the same. She would become dust before he changed at all. Her time was so short, his gifts already so vast. To take on all of her maintenance himself for a lifetime, surely, it would be a small request.

After the way he had behaved, Rin had every right to engage his honour.

But her own feelings cried out in agony that it would be a pyrrhic victory without his heart.

Chapter 9: To Eternity

‘Thank you for coming, Lord Sesshomaru.’ Rin curtsied. Once straightened, she clasped her hands in front of herself. 

Striding into the parlour, he made no mention of her stiff posture or lilac gown. ‘Of course.’ Lord Sesshomaru sat as he customarily did in the centre of the red sofa. Kaede’s absence did not pique his curiosity; however, when Rin resumed her place on the cream coloured sofa, his brow knit in consternation.

She flushed with embarrassment. Her change in habits over the past few weeks had not been subtle. Studying her knees, Rin said, ‘I hope I have not taken you from anything important.’ She folded her hands on her lap. ‘You must have many opinions about the rates of taxation or what goods are being imported into the country.’

‘It can wait,’ was Lord Sesshomaru’s reply.

Rin pursed her lips. The course of her life would be decided by this meeting! She was resolved that before it ended, she and Lord Sesshomaru would understand one another fully. Whether that understanding brought her joy or misery, Rin was prepared to accept it. Yet, now that the tête-à-tête had begun, the skill to steer the conversation eluded her. 

Silent, Lord Sesshomaru stared.

Rin squared her shoulders. Her fichu was like armour protecting her virtue. She had no fear of illicit displays or humiliating lapses. ‘What do you think of this gown?’

‘It suits you.’

‘You gave it to me,’ Rin said. ‘Remember?’ Lord Sesshomaru had presented her with this gown two years ago.

‘Of course.’

Rin waited for him to add anything else, but he did not. She cleared her throat. ‘Why do you give me so many gowns? You bring at least five years’ worth of clothes every autumn.’

‘I prefer it.’

Incredulous, Rin barked with laughter. ‘You prefer – ! Lord Sesshomaru, whatever could you mean?’

‘I prefer,’ he said, ‘to see you wear clothes of my choosing, ones which match my idea of you.’

There was no greater proof he thought of her when they were apart than that. 

Rin’s courage grew.

Leaning forwards, Rin confessed in a loud whisper, ‘Sometimes, I imagine that when you are not here, you spend all of your time looking at fashion magazines!’

‘No, I have Jaken do that.’

Anxiety forgotten, she laughed heartily. ‘Oh! Poor Master Jaken! I bet he hates it!’

‘Do not pity him too much. If he had better taste, he would get it over with faster.’

Mirth brought tears to her eyes. Rin pulled out her handkerchief to dab at them. ‘I’ve been meaning to ask – why do you come here? Not to Ichiba, of course, but here. Why do you leave your battles and come when I ask?’

His brow furrowed.

‘And,’ Rin pressed, ‘why did you agree to come to an assembly when you do not know any dances? Why does a man who can fly own a curricle? And why does it matter to you if the way I dress matches your idea of me?’

With a calmness that suggested indifference, Lord Sesshomaru surmised, ‘You dislike it.’

Rin shook her head. ‘Of course not. I do not mean to sound ungrateful! We have been good friends for a long time, but I wish I knew you better. I wonder what you think about.’

‘As I, you.’

She gaped. ‘What? What could you wonder about me?’

The yokai frowned. ‘How you change. You had never invited me to an assembly before. You change where you sit, how you dress, if the old woman is present. Am I expected to understand these things?’

Swallowing hard, Rin whispered, ‘I wanted you to. I wanted it to mean something to you.’

His golden eyes seemed especially large. ‘What?’

Tapping nervous fingers on her leg, Rin said quietly, ‘I am six and twenty, and unmarried. I have no husband, no children, or a home of my own. I rely on my neighbours for everything.’

Lord Sesshomaru nodded. ‘Unusual, for one of your kind.’

She shrank back, wounded and seeking the solace of the thin and worn sofa cushions.

‘Humans,’ he continued, ‘beget other humans. That is your immortality. One life creates another, and that one creates more, and in that way, the essence of a single human endures throughout the centuries.’

Rin shifted in her seat. ‘Yokai do that, too. I’ve met your mother; I know how much you take after her. And that battle we watched, it was over inheritance law.’

‘Not in the same manner,’ he replied. ‘Yokai do not have the drive that you do. My brother is something on the order of 700 years younger than I. Yokai have little interest in seeing their essence reflected in another.’ Lord Sesshomaru seemed to contemplate something in the far distance, though the room was small, and it must be in his own imagination. ‘Lately, I have come to recognise an innate nobility in the human family. Do you not see it?’

Anxiety roiled in her stomach. ‘I do! I do see it!’

Lord Sesshomaru frowned. ‘Yet your household has not grown. It remains only you and the old woman.’

‘A yokai woman in my place would take to the skies and fight for her place.’ Rin sighed. ‘But I am human. When I try to do anything more than passively wait, I am shamed for it.’

‘What of your immortality? Have you no intention of pursuing it?’

‘You have a unique way of putting it, my lord.’ She could not help the lopsided smile. ‘It’s true, I would very much prefer to be married. All of it – to have a home of my own, and the love of my husband, and children to care for. I think about it a lot. How he would ask for my hand. We would marry, and then go on a wedding trip – just man and wife! – to see something very beautiful – the Lakes, perhaps – and then I would learn how to run his household and make it my own. If I were very lucky, I would bear my first child before a year was out. His family would want a son, I’m sure, but I would never ask for that. Daughters are every bit as valuable. We probably would look for ourselves in them. Who has his hair, or who has my smile.’

Lord Sesshomaru rose.

Ice seemed to leap into Rin’s throat. Was he leaving?

‘Rin.’ Lord Sesshomaru’s voice was so stern.

‘Yes?’

‘Allow me to be the one to bring you to eternity.’

She trembled. ‘What are you saying?’

He stepped around the table and dropped to the cream coloured sofa. Their knees knocked together. Lord Sesshomaru seized her hand and squeezed. ‘I will be your husband. I will give your essence immortality. Whatever home you wish, I shall get it for you.’

Rin swallowed. Unable to resist, she laid her free hand on top of his own.  ‘Are you certain?’

His boa began to expand, spilling over the table and surrounding them both. It grew over the back of the sofa in great folds and waves. Rin gasped as it wound around her ankles. As his face dipped closer, the boa splayed itself against her back, pushing Rin even further towards Lord Sesshomaru.

‘You,’ he confessed, caressing her nose with his own, ‘have become my everything. That is the answer to all of your questions.’ Lord Sesshomaru pressed his mouth hers, his face and breath feverishly hot against Rin’s lips. She quaked, and he dropped her hands, drawing her into a passionate embrace. Rin wrapped her arms around his shoulders. 

When he withdrew, and only slightly at that, Lord Sesshomaru’s eyes glowed red with intent.

She cautioned him, fingertips stilling his ravenous lips. ‘Marriage first,’ Rin whispered, ‘then immorality.’