Unplanned by Sessylove219
Chapter 2 - Heartless
Unplanned, Chapter 2
Prompt: Heartless, Priestess Skye’s Weekly challenge Ending 11/29/09
Words: 1139, according to MSWorks
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They could call him heartless all they wanted. There was only one who knew better, and she was dead. When he looked into the face of the young youkai that was the product of their union, he could feel the heart that they said he did not have breaking all over again.
They had chosen to name the heir to the Western Lands InuDaiki. When one saw him, they would agree that the name was fitting. The child of the west was truly great and shining. He seemed to burn with his own special light, an untamed mixture of youki and reiki.
She had never seen their child, but he knew that she would have been proud; would have cried and laughed and cooed over the physical manifestation of a love that had changed his world. A love that he had thought would transcend time itself.
She was supposed to be immortal. She was supposed to stay by his side for the rest of eternity. The mating bond of a miko and a daiyoukai should have made it so nothing could take her from him, but to his horror, there was one thing that could kill her. One thing that could make it so that not only would she die, but she would not be able to be revived by the mythical Fang of Heaven, the Tenseiga.
The could call him heartless all they wanted. He had had blood on his claws in the past, had spilt a river of it and had waded through an ocean of suffering on his way to supreme conquest over the years. The sight or smell of blood had never bothered him. Not until the blood on his claws was that of his own mate.
The blood that covered his claws the day his heir was born, her blood, was the reason he was now alone. To spill the blood of one’s mate was a sacrilege to youkai everywhere, especially daiyoukai. To spill the blood of one’s mate would make you an outcast, the worst kind of blasphemer. The fact that he had spilled her blood to save their pup, that he had done so on her orders had redeemed him in the eyes of his fellow youkai, but the fact that her life was lost because of his actions, that the claws that had split her open and taken her life had belonged to him, had nullified the protection of her mating mark, making her mortal. Making her weak. The fact that her blood stained his claws made Tenseiga stay silent in his hands, never to work on the one who truly held his heart in her hands.
They could call him heartless all they wanted. In a way, he supposed that they were right. When he finally fell over in exhaustion after trying everything he could to revive her; swiping Tenseiga over her mangled body until he could barely move his arm, kneeling beside her, begging her to return to him, prostrating himself on the ground begging the Kami to intercede…when he finally realized that nothing would work, he knew that his heart was gone…she had taken it with her into whatever world she was now in. She had left him in this one alone, and he didn’t know exactly what to do anymore. He looked into the face of his heir, a few days old and crying for the mother he would never know, and steeled his resolve.
They could call him heartless all they wanted. He did not care. He would show his stoic mask to the world, and only allow one in. His son, his heir, the only thing left. InuDaiki would grow into a strong and proud youkai. He owed it to her.
Did she realize, when she asked him to dig his claws into her body to remove their pup, just what the consequences would be? Did she know that there was no going back? That she was damning him for all eternity?
He didn’t think so. They could call him heartless all they wanted, but that would never be something that others would think to call her. Her heart had been as big as the sun, and as limitless as the stars.
He had picked himself up that day, and had raised his son as best as he knew how. He had tried to tell InuDaiki about his mother, but knew that no words could ever express just what a wonderful creature she truly was. The young inu had grown to be strong, and brave, and wise, and the one thing that his father was not. Not anymore.
He grew to be merciful.
They could call him heartless all they wanted, but InuDaiki knew better. He knew that his father had loved his mate. InuDaiki had heard about her for his entire life. His uncle would speak of her, but not very often. Inuyasha seemed particularly tormented whenever the subject of the late Western Lady was brought up, however he never withheld knowledge from his nephew. He was tortured by the thought that his friend had died and was not coming back. She had given so much to the world, but when it was finally time for her to rest, to have a peaceful and happy life, it was torn from her in the blink of an eye.
She had shown the hanyou the way to salvation, and had walked the entire rocky, perilous road with him. She had given him acceptance, love, self-worth, pride, and the family that he had always wanted. Once she had loved him as a mate, later, as a sister. She had always loved him as a friend. It was her love that had given him everything, and for that, he could never repay her. So he broke open the seals that held his broken heart together to tell her son about the wonderful woman his mother was, and to impart all the knowledge that she had shown the gruff hanyou. It was the least he could do, but that did not mean it did not hurt.
They could call him heartless all they wanted, but InuDaiki knew better. His father was not without a heart. For something to be broken, it had to be present in the first place.
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Across the lands in the North, the newest daughter of the ruling daiyoukai stared out her window at the moon, and was unnaturally calmed by the cool, silver light that shone upon her face. She would spend hours staring at the moon, or staring off to the West, looking at nothing. Even for a cat, she was mysterious indeed.
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AN: I have decided to expand, although I am not sure it was the right decision. Please let me know what you thing. Any and all advice is welcomed!