Yuinou, the Gift of a Broken Friendship part 2

Several hundred years ago...

It was a typical summer day at school. Sesshomaru, Takamuku, and Homugi were resting in the elm tree for lunch at their dojo. Sesshomaru was watching the fairy pitta birds communicating with each other and playing around, Takamuku was eating his lunch and admiring the historical landmarks of the old training grounds, and Homugi was hopping around on one foot in her innocent play. Twirling about on her foot, Homugi hit a small rock that rolled over to a rusted piece of metal. It was in the shape of a ring next to a broken sake cup.

"Hey, Muku-senpai?" she asked, waving to Takamuku. He turned to her with curiosity and responded with a grunt. She then pointed to the broken cup and asked, "What are these things over here? An old weapon?"

Takamuku packed away his food, strapped it to his person, and flung himself off the tree. Sesshomaru responded with a curious parting of lips before following after the older boy and walking over to Homugi's side to inspect the items of interest. He couldn't tell what either of them were at first, but their senpai perked up and said with a bright smile, "Oh! I forgot! The first and only wedding of an inu princess was up here. I think there's a painting of the occasion in the library, but my dad said when our kind first became symbols of strength during the human wars that an ancestor was sad that he couldn't marry a girl that he really liked. She was really talented in music and often played songs for soldiers to either cheer them up or inspire them to be brave and win battles. The girl's dad didn't want her to stop playing so he created a heavy fog to hide her away and keep them apart. Using a difficult technique, our ancestor cut through the fog and created an attack similar to Lord Toga's Wind Scar. This technique allowed him to reunite with the girl and they ran here to be married. Angry at our ancestor for stealing his daughter away, the father was said to have developed a magic spell that can actually break the Wind Scar as revenge. I don't know if that part's true, but you'd have to be mad as crap to make a null spell stronger than the Wind Scar. I wonder if that spell still exists."

"Jya, that's so cute!" Homugi complimented, blushing and holding her hands together in admiration. "The most powerful fighting technique formed from love!"

"You're such a girl, Mugi," Takamuku said, chuckling and kneeling down to inspect the items. He picked up the cup first and spotted a detail that confirmed his suspicions. He then nodded, picked up the piece, and showed his friends before saying, "There's still a bit of lipstick on here. This must've been the princess's cup."

"Eh? Really?" Homugi questioned, jumping over to her senpai's hands to inspect the item closely. Sure enough, red lipstick stains were still on the small bits of cup. That lipstick lasted close to hundreds of inu years! Homugi's eyes sparkled with glee. When Takamuku took her hand and placed the shard in it, he placed his hand on his hip and watched his kouhai just about burst with elation. She then sighed, "This is amazing!"

"You'd better take good care of that, princess," Takamuku said, walking away from his kouhai. "It's filled with history and an amazing story."

"Do you think a strong warrior will marry me, senpai?" Homugi asked, eyes filled with hope. "What about his sword technique? Can it compete with Lord Toga's?"

"I dunno," Takamuku replied, shrugging his shoulders. "That was our ancestor's history. You have to make your own. Who would you like to marry, Mugi?"

"Someone I can play games with!" Homugi responded immediately with a bright smile. "And cook with. And, and, practice sword swings with! Oh, and learn special kata with. Oh, and, and - !"

"Your guy is going to be busy," Takamuku joked, leaping back into the elm then turning to Sesshomaru. "What about you, kouhai?"

Sesshomaru didn't respond for a while. He quietly turned around to the rusted ring and broken sake cup and pondered. By the time school was over, Sesshomaru was so distracted by the question that he didn't pay attention to the chickens following him into the kitchen. Walking passed the chefs and bakers completely unnoticed, he climbed up to the cookie shelves and started rifling through the jars. His favorite matcha waffle cookies were in smaller sacks, and he tossed some butter cookie pieces to the chickens before walking out. It wasn't until the master chef turned around when he noticed chickens in the castle. Sesshomaru didn't hear the chef scream as he tried to shoo them out. Instead, the little one walked into his room and sat on his bed just pondering away. What would he like for a bride? Hearing a thump and a soft coo from another room, Sesshomaru blinked before he recognized the sound of his mother's voice. Oh! That meant his father was home. Well, the answer to his questions should be easy to find with them both here.

He hopped off the bed and walked over to his parents' chambers. Maybe he'd be okay with a bride who's not terribly shy. His mother shied away from nothing usually. Oh, his bride should like cookies! That's what he likes. Maybe matcha waffle cookies even? Well... probably not because then they'd fight ov - well... he is training to be an elite fighter. She would have to be able to challenge him in some aspect in order to get the prized cookie. Opening the door to his parents' chambers, he idly walked next to the bed as his parents were simply kissing each other deeply. Good. Last time was traumatic but fascinating. He learned something new about them both. Tugging his father's hair and making him leap into the air almost, Sesshomaru covered his ears when his parents were done screaming and blinked cutely at their response. The room wasn't dark this time. They should've been able to hear him.

Toga put a hand over his heart and tried to catch his breath before heaving out, "Pup. Don't scare me like that! You're going to give me a heart attack!"

"But it's daylight, daddy," Sesshomaru answered, tilting his head. He picked out an empty spot on the bed and crawled in it to nibble on his cookie. "You said knock when it's dark."

"I swear if you weren't cute, I'd bite you, pup," Toga said, mussing up the boy's hair. "Why are you terrorizing the house this time?"

Sesshomaru's pupils dilated visibly before he looked down and nibbled his cookie shyly. This concerned Toga, however, because Sesshomaru had no shame or shyness about him. He was quiet, yes, but he had no filter between thought and speech. He was impressively honest, which is why Toga started to worry when the boy wouldn't speak further, and hardly ever had to think this hard to develop a response. When Milady crawled over to him with equal concern, Sesshomaru finally mumbled, "What makes a good bride?"

"A b-b-br-bride?" Toga questioned, trying to gather his thoughts.

"Muku-senpai told us a story about our ancestor. One that married a princess at the old training grounds near the elm tree. What did our ancestor like about the princess so much that he made the most powerful sword technique just to see her?" the child asked.

"I'm not sure, my son," Toga replied after a brief amount of silence passed. He then smiled and looked into Sesshomaru's eyes to say, "But I would like to believe that the princess was a lot of things. She was very good at playing drums in the story you're talking about. She was also cheerful, full of good will, and inspiring. I think there was a lot to like about her."

"Did she like cookies?" Sesshomaru asked with some enthusiasm.

"Probably, little nibbler," Milady answered, tickling the boy's sides and earning a smile. "They would have been shaped like drums most likely to represent her talent."

"Do we have those?" Sesshomaru asked purely out of interest in a new treat.

"Not before dinner," Toga and Milady said in unison, making Sesshomaru pout in response.

He nodded quietly at their command, though, and hopped off the bed to return to his room. He had something else to think about now. What would the inu princess like as an offering? Maybe a coin? Searching his room for a silk purse, he huffed with displeasure when he could only find a small silk sack instead, but he didn't let that discourage him. Running into his grandfather's room, he snatched some paper out of it while the old man was taking a nap and ran back out to find joss sticks and a coin. Licking the crumbs off his fingers from the cookie, he ran in the kitchen again and rifled through the jars to find sweet potato biscuit sandwiches with the hopes of one being the color of a tanto drum. He found two of good quality and ran out of the kitchen again. Stopping mid-run, Sesshomaru stood still for a moment then ran back into the kitchen to steal another biscuit for himself and chewed on it while running to his next destination. He barged in his parents' room again and blocked his vision from whatever they were doing with his hand. When the couple heard him going through chests, they stopped and turned to him in a panic, but he was gone before they could even respond. They looked at each other for a couple of seconds, wondering if they should continue, and sighed aloud in unison when they decided that the mood was properly ruined and that their son was on some kind of adventure that might've required their attention.

Sesshomaru was running through the fruit orchards now, hunting for the perfect fruit. An apple? Nah, not right. Orange? Meh. Plum? Delicious but no. Berries? Bleh! Right as he was passing a tree, he ran in place for a second and stared at a peach tree. Peaches were good. Spotting one of perfect quality, he picked up his running in place speed and gained enough momentum to run up the tree and snatch the fruit before running on all fours across a tree branch and jumping off. He landed on his feet expertly before taking off to the dojo. His silk bag was full of things, but he wanted his offering to be perfect. Running to the waterfall of yoki energy, he turned to his right and caught sight of his target. He walked over to the banyan Wish tree and blushed before looking at the many colorful ribbons attached to papers and the like hanging from branches. He sat down on the ground in front of the tree and started taking out the items from his bag until he heard noises. He let a low growl before stopping to turn around. It was Takamuku and Homugi!

"Why are you guys here?" Sesshomaru asked quietly.

"We came to make wishes!" Homugi replied, lifting her hands covered by the flowing sleeves of her orange furisode into the air. She took out an unused lipstick container and said, "I brought this! So that either the princess or our ancestor blesses my wish to be a bride for the perfect boy. Takamuku wanted to make a wish, too."

"Mostly for luck and wisdom. I don't know what I want my bride to be like yet," Takamuku said with a shrug. "But I'm thinking she has to be patient. Does this mean you've thought about what you want your bride to be like?"

Sesshomaru nodded and said with a light blush dusting his cheeks and a soft smile on his lips, "Someone clever. I don't want my strongest technique to be an act of love or defiance. I want it to be there already. I want my bride to know how to make it through tough times. If her father is so mean that he won't even let her play music for someone she loves, I don't think I'd want him to be part of my family. Mother and father like each other very much. Grandpa might be grumpy sometimes, but he's always there to help with something. I don't want someone that mean to change them or hurt them. My bride will be smart and able to travel through the fog all on her own."