The Life of a Daiyoukai by Angelicatt

What about me?

Title: The Life of a Daiyoukai

Chapter: 2 : What about me? 

Words: 836

Rating: K+

Prompt: Priestess Skye’s Seven Deadly Challenges #2 - Envy

Summary:  Sesshoumaru breaks down the dynamics of the Inu-tachi and wonders why he could not have the same.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the mere sparks of imagination. Characters are property of Rumiko Takahashi, VIZ Media et al.

A/N: It’s taking me 5 months to get this written but I promised Skye that I would finish the series. Gomen nasai everyone!

I don’t usually get much free time to myself. The responsibilities of a ruler always take precedent over one’s need for independence and privacy. Regardless of this fact, when my nerves and patience are at the breaking point, I have no other choice but to escape. Not that there is any need to explain myself to anyone but I always use the excuse of having to patrol my lands in order to gain some quiet alone time, and perhaps a good hunt.

It was on one of these patrols that I happened to come across my half-brother’s pack, or should I say the miko’s pack; wherein, she lets the hanyou think that he’s the leader, if only to assuage his massive ego and numerous insecurities – a lot of them I am personally accountable for instilling in him while he was still a pup. I regret none of it. Still the rag-tag bunch is larger than my own and quite efficiently managed, Kagome being the core of it all. Like the support beam for a thatched roof, the miko’s personal connection to each member is the key for its past and continued success.

The female taijiya, probably the last of her kind, acts as both the older sister and closest confident to the younger, naïve miko. Accompanying the taijiya is the two-tailed neko, who provides a means of transportation and an excellent addition in battle; her loyalty and devotion to her mistress rivals that of any inu. It is rumored that the neko was once owned by the very same priestess that not only created but remains trapped in the damned Shikon no Tama jewel that the pack so valiantly searches for. It’s no wonder that the neko exhibits so many protective traits to the current Shikon miko.

The hentai monk, cursed from birth, serves as the voice of reason and is quite the diplomat, when his hand doesn’t veer from his side. I have often wondered if he truly enjoys being beaten by women for his lewdness or if it’s because he is a male and knows no other way to express his obvious attraction to the taijiya in a serious manner. His sage advice and spiritual presence positions him as a mentor and older brother to the young untrained priestess.

The kitsune pup provides comic relief, as his species is known for and a diversion to the group. His familial attachment to the miko, gives her comfort and solace in a time and place where she feels most isolated. His constant bickering with the inu-hanyou; while childish and futile, has proved to further mature the elder, as he has come to realize that fighting with a child will only get him ‘sat’. There is no winning when a mother is involved.

The last member of the miko’s pack is decidedly the one I share the most history and the most disdain with: the hanyou, my half-brother. The boy is brash, thoughtless, lacks any social skills and could use a bath more than once a month. I often say that his life is mine to take but even I know that is an idle threat. Our great father, the last Inu-no-taisho would return from the dead to haunt me forever, if I were ever to truly kill off his offspring from the only onna he ever truly loved.

One would think that I hate him because of his mixed birth and that he is a stain on our father’s legendary life and totally undeserving of our powerful Inu blood; but in reality it is because he was loved. Before he was even born, Father loved him and his human mother, going so far as to die in final battle with the human samurai, Takemaru of Setsuna on the day of the pup’s birth. He was given the Fire Rat robe, the black pearl, which lead to father’s final resting place and the most powerful sword created by father’s fang, the Tetsusaiga. All I was left with was the useless Tensaiga, a crumbling shiro and the responsibilities of maintaining the vast Western Lands.

While I have no need of a pack, as I am far more powerful than the whole Inu-tachi put together, I do have my simpering retainer Jaken, the two-headed dragon Ah-Un and of course, my ward Rin but it’s not quite the same. Kagome leads with compassion and understanding; while I obviously rule by fear and intimidation. It is not my fault that everyone is a lesser being to myself. The miko is no great strategist and is prone to clumsiness but there is unity and same-mindedness within her group, everyone sharing their opinions and ideas for the common cause. I am the judge, jury and executioner and everyone bends to my will but still it feels like I am missing out.

How pathetic has my life become that I find myself comparing and wishing to have what the hanyou has? He has nothing for me to be to be envious of…except the miko.