Seven Days by Yashodoa

The Pact

Disclaimer: any recognizable plot/characters belongs to the respectful owner, i.e. Rumiko Takashi.

This is 2017 edited version of the story.

Timeline Note: I'm taking a fanon information to narrow down the exact years Kagome fell in the well and go from there. She fell down the well in 1996 and ended up in 1543. This story takes place around 1544, about a year after she fell down the well.

The Pact

496 AD:

"Papa, how come I don't have a mother?" A five years old inu yōkai pup, Sesshōmaru, asked as he sat on his father's lap.

Inu no Taishō cast soft eyes upon his son. "You did have a mother, but she had to attend to her duty and is no longer with us."

Sesshōmaru frowned as he shifted on his father's lap to face his father's face better, cupping his father's cheeks with his tiny hands. With his childish voice, trying to sound grown up, he demanded, "don't lie to me. Who was my mother and why did she leave me?"

Inu no Taishō smiled sadly, "Sesshōmaru, she was a great Miko in the kingdom. It was not her intention to have a child. She gave birth to you, she did love you and gave you your name. She knew what you will become when you are grown up." He adjusted his son to sit comfortably back on his lap and continued, "you are young but you are smart. I suppose it is time to tell you about our lineage, of the Silver Inu clan."

Sesshōmaru glanced at the desk in front of them. His father unrolled the scroll before them; it revealed detailed pictures of the Western land, the inu yōkai in their true form, battle and much more.

"The Silver Inu clan, the unique and powerful yōkai in all the kingdom under the Heaven," Inu no Taishō started and felt his son's head nod at his chest watching as his finger traced the images. "A long time ago we were aplenty, male and female, ruling the entire Nihon and most of the world unknown to humans. However, we were also arrogant and cruel, and selfish as well. The male inu fought with each other over the female. They were desirable and every one of them worthy of a mate. It wasn't until all the female killed, by our own greed and jealousy…" He paused at the morbid image of female inu yōkai scattered across the land, torn and bloodied.

Sesshōmaru looked up to his father, "So, that mean, there's no way for us to keep the lineage pure?"

"That's right," Inu no Taishō continued on, "The Kami-Sama was not happy with the Silver Inu. He cursed all of them. Since we had no female to keep our lineage pure, we would die out. Our only option was to mix with the other inu clan, but our pure lineage would eventually breed out. We have black, brown and red clans, but the Silver was the most powerful." Sesshōmaru unrolled the rest of the scroll, allowing his father to continue. "One of our ancestors found a way, purely accidental, he had mated with a Miko and she gave birth to a full Silver Inu pup. Only the pure and the strongest could mate with a powerful Miko."

Sesshōmaru turned his head to his father, "But there's not many of us left..."

"That's right. It was a secret that only the daiyōkai of the Silver Inu knew. The rest..."

"Bred out." Sesshōmaru muttered as his father nodded. He pursed his tiny lips and asked, "then why all the Silver Inu born to Miko are male?"

Inu no Taishō shook his head, "It was a curse by the Kami-Sama. He cursed our clan to never have female Silver Inu, he would not have his daughters to be killed and maimed like before."

"So, when I grow up, I have to find a miko?" Sesshōmaru asked as the scroll came to end.

Inu no Taishō patted his son's silver head, "That's not for you to worry now, you're young, you have centuries before you can bother about having an heir. But yes, to keep our lineage pure, you would have to find a powerful miko, a willing one to give you an heir."

"Oh. But why did she not stay and become your mate?"

"Your mother had a duty. In the end, it killed her. It was an honorable duty and she saved the kingdom." Inu no Taishō explained.

Sesshōmaru nodded as he glanced at the painting of his mother in another scroll. She was beautiful with long black hair and pale skin. She wore miko garb with armors. On her forehead was small red cross and her eyes were blue like the sky. She appeared ethereal. He wondered what kind of woman she was but then figured, it did not matter. The good thing she did was to bring him in the world and that was it, which was the only thing she was good for.

Sesshōmaru asked softly, almost inaudible, "what would it take to lift the curse?"

Inu no Taishō remained silent, studying the image of the miko. After a long period of silence, he replied softly, "only the Kami-Sama knows."

1191 AD:

Years passed, Sesshōmaru grew into a fine young daiyōkai. By the seventh centuries since his birth, it was time for his coming-of-age passage. He went to meet with the Silver Inu clan elders with his father.

The elders lived deep in the mountain and they were just three, the last of the Silver Inu beside Inu no Taishō and Sesshōmaru. They were the last of the ancient Silver Inu and remembered the world begun. They had old wisdom, withered and nearly blind. Sesshōmaru, being a young inu yōkai, found them very uptight old croaks in his opinion.

"A strong son," the first croaked. "You did well, Inu no Taishō."

"What is he called?" The second asked.

Inu no Taishō turned to his son proudly, "Sesshōmaru, the killing perfection."

"Strong name. Who named him?" The third asked as he poked Sesshōmaru's arm.

Sesshōmaru frowned at the third elder and moved his arm away.

"His mother," Inu no Taishō replied.

The second hobbled toward Sesshōmaru and peered up. "Fine face, mother's feature then. Tell us, who was his mother?"

Inu no Taishō replied with indifference, "She was Midoriko."

The three elders turned to each other and whispered. Sesshōmaru caught on few words such as Shikon no Tama, cursed, Miko, and finally a deadline.

The first turned to Sesshōmaru, "You. You are young but you must comply with the same request we gave your father. Give us the age, that by then, you will promise to find a Miko and create a pure heir."

Sesshōmaru glanced at his father and saw him nod. He didn't like being forced but he knew he had to comply with the elders' wish. It was upon his shoulder to keep the lineage going, now that he and his father are the last of the true Silver Inu that can breed.

He decided he would need as much time he could muster to find a suitable miko. He started, "One thousand and fifty-three…" He had intended to finish the sentence 'years from now' but the elder interrupted him.

"Good, good, by your one thousand and fifty-three years, on the morning after the full moon of the month, you must have a Miko impregnated with the next heir."

Appalled and affronted, he growled softly and felt his father clap his hand on his shoulder to shut him up. He quieted and glared at the three old inu yōkai. As soon as they left the mountain, Sesshōmaru let loose growl of frustration.

Inu no Taishō chuckled as he turned to his son, "Sesshōmaru, I know what you attempted to do, so did they. They will not wait another thousand years before a new heir is born. Here's a warning; if you do not find a Miko by then and a week before the full moon, they will find one and give her to you. You will have no choice."

Sesshōmaru growled as he stood his ground, "a human is not worth my time, let alone a Miko." He turned and took off.

Inu no Taishō shook his head and said mostly to himself, "Don't worry; you will understand… having a son is worth it." He murmured and turned into opposite direction, heading toward his palace. "I just hope, when it comes to the time, you will be wiser."

1393 AD:

The snow was falling in the night and the cold air was bitter. The full moon shone through the clouds upon the two inu yōkai standing some distance from one another. One wounded and another stoic.

Sesshōmaru stood behind his father, gazing at him with the cool stare. "Are you going, father?"

He had learned recently that his father had found a mate, a human woman. Ryukotsusei, a dragon yōkai had left him battered and wounded. His mate was in labor and perhaps, danger from a jealous human male.

Inu no Taishō looked over the ocean to his side. It was a quiet night, the sea was still and glistening under the moonlight. His blood dripped from his shoulder, staining the pristine snow below. He softly replied, disappointment in his tone, "are you going to stop me, Sesshōmaru?"

Sesshōmaru narrowed his gaze upon his father. He could smell death coming upon his father. "I am not going to stop you. However, before that, I would like the fangs, Sou'Unga, Tessaiga handed over to me." He deliberately left out the third one his father owned, the healing sword. It had no use for him, it does not cut.

Inu no Taishō turned to his son, pride swelled within him to see his son become into a strong inu yōkai and he knew Sesshōmaru would be a great daiyōkai. It pained him that his son closed off and selfish. He felt like he had failed. "If I say I won't give them to you… would you kill your own father?" He asked. He saw no reaction from Sesshōmaru. "Do you desires power that much? Why do you seek power?" He asked then.

Sesshōmaru tilted his head up, in gesture of arrogant and pride, and replied, "I must travel the path of conquest… power is necessary to walk that path."

Inu no Taishō smirked. Killing Perfection, he had thought Midoriko was being humorous by naming him. Now with his son older and standing before him, he was truly a killing perfection, living up to his namesake. "Conquest, huh? Sesshōmaru, is there something you want to protect?" He had to ask, for one of the swords intended to protect with its destructive power.

Sesshōmaru raised his hand, flicking his claw out, ready to attack, "Something to protect? I have no need to pursue such an endeavor." As the muscle coiled in his arm, his father transformed into his true form and took off to the sky. Lowering his arm, he would wait until his father was surely dead before he could get the two swords he desired.

Little he knew; he would not get the swords he desired but the healing one instead a hundred and fifty years later. The Sou'Unga disappeared from the land without a trace and the Tessaiga passed off to his half-brother, the hanyō who was born that very night.