Epilogue

Sometime later…

Mai frowned, examining her reflection in the mirror. She looked kind of doll-like with all that make-up, but it should be okay. It was just the way she was supposed to look today. She cast the doubtful glance at the pile of clothes, she prepared yesterday. Everything had been taken care of earlier this morning, so all that was left was to put all those layers onto her back. She sighed heavily and began dressing in the luxurious twelve-layered kimono, one that could be envied even by the Empress herself.

Today was an important day. Her fake father asked her and Sesshomaru to join him during the ceremony of sakura viewing in Kyoto, as they had been invited by the very Emperor of Japan. Somehow she managed to blackmail her husband into going with her. After all, this ceremony-thing was not only a favor for lord Asakura, but also one-in-a-million chance for her and her husband to go on a date. It’s been so long since they were strolling all alone…

Mai shook her head, chasing the stupidly dreamy smile from her face and began fastening her richly embroidered obi. Seriously, putting on such a robe was a major pain in the ass, but she had to do it, as she was officially still recognized as princess Amayami. During all this time she didn’t have a chance to tell her fake father the truth. To be precise, the more time passed, the more reluctant to do so she was. Lord Asakura was like a foster parent to her now and fortunately he learnt to accept, that his supposed daughter was married to the demon and began treating Sesshomaru like the son-in-law, much to the dog demon’s dismay. Coincidentally it happened after she had explained, that he is like a human daimyo, but among the youkai. A lot of letters were circling between her village and Echizen and it was kind of nice. Well… a lot nicer than the occasional visits of her bitchy mother-in-law. Even Sesshomaru agreed with her on that.

“Are you done?” Mai yelped, surprised by the voice.

She whirled around to see Sesshomaru, who was casually leaning against the doorframe, scanning her up and down. He narrowed his eyes and nodded with approval. Mai noticed, that he had his usual clothing on, apparently feeling no need to polish himself for a bunch of humans.

“You look fine.” He stated. 

Mai smiled at the compliment and cast the last look into the mirror to make sure, that every piece of clothing was in the right place.

“All right. I’m ready!” she announced with a determined battle-look on her face.

The inu-youkai arched his eyebrow, observing his slightly foolish wife. 

He spotted a missing detail and stalked towards the woman, snatching the item from the small counter along the way.

“You are not.” He cooled Mai’s enthusiasm. 

Seeing her furrowing her brows in a questioning way, Sesshomaru pulled his wife closer to himself and placed the emerald hairpin in her brown locks, which were now reaching nearly to the waist and were partially done up. He slid his hands down, till they were resting on the woman’s shoulders and gazed at her – she was looking exceptionally elegant, but he preferred her everyday look. However, he just could not resist the charms of his sweet female. One thing never changed with the flow of the time – he desired her as much as the day she became his spouse. Sesshomaru tightened his grip on the woman, ensuring, that she wouldn’t wriggle out. He snaked one arm behind her back and used the other hand to lift her chin. He leaned down, wanting to devour her lips, but his mouth met her palm instead of the welcoming lips. He glared at Mai, not pleased by her reaction. She glared back, warning in her eyes.

“I spent an hour applying this make up. I won’t let you ruin it!” she said.

The inu-youkai frowned, frustrated, that such puny thing stood in the way.

“It will not make a difference if we are late an hour.” He said in a husky voice, bringing his lips to Mai’s ear, so that they were brushing her earlobe. “Or two.”

The woman clenched her fists, using all her willpower to resist her husband’s temptation. Damn, she spend nearly three hours getting ready – she couldn’t let that sneaky demon make it go to waste!

“Ah!” a yelp escaped her throat, as Mai felt Sesshomaru beginning to kiss her neck, avoiding to smear the make-up. 

His hand tried to find its way into her kimono, but she snatched the inu-youkai’s wrist in time.

“No way!” the woman fussed, pulling her husband away, trying to save her outfit from his vile, yet temping clutches. She lifted her finger, in a pathetic attempt to threaten Sesshomaru. “Don’t you dare, you demon!”

“Hn.” The inu-youkai snorted, as she kept fending him off. “Do you really think, that mere words will stop me, woman?”

Mai’s eyes widened, as her husband closer the distance between them with one small step and glared at her, towering over her small frame. Crap, he looked desperate for it. Worse, she had nothing against it.

“Later.” She said quickly, but the inu-youkai kept advancing on her.

“You have been saying this for the entire week.” He reminded her, the predatory gleam in his golden eyes. 

Not that Mai was opposed to the thought of being devoured by her husband, but it wasn’t exactly the time for this. She smirked at Sesshomaru and looked up into his eyes, trying to emit sex-appeal. She put her palms on his chest and snuggled closer to the inu-youkai.

“We can be late if you tell me, that you love me.” She said in a tone she thought to be seductive.

As always, her husband looked away, avoiding the eye-contact, visibly embarrassed in his way.

“Do not be foolish.” He said in a tone, that hinted, that the discussion was over, but Mai insisted to continuing it.

“Come on, it’s only three words.” She tried to coax the demon into saying it, but Sesshomaru was stubborn as ever and kept staring intently at the wall.

“I will not lower myself to saying such humiliating things. It is good for women, not for men.” He said harshly, growing impatient. Then, he decided to change the topic to avert Mai’s attention from the troublesome issue. “We should depart.”

The woman narrowed her eyes, sending a poisonous glare the demonic asshole, who happened to be her beloved husband.

“I need to hear such things. Brace yourself and say it.” She insisted, but Sesshomaru had the advantage of being a stubborn bastard over three centuries longer than her. 

Finally, he managed to look her in the eye, the slightly bewildered look on his face.

“I did it once. It should be enough.” He muttered, pushing her towards the door.

“It was years ago!” Mai protested, defeated by her husband’s unique logic. 

Sesshomaru ignored his wife’s protests and managed to yank her out of the house to meet Ah-Un, who was growing impatient with Mai’s dawdling as well. Women were truly the curse of men. She should perfectly know the extent of the affection, he harbored for her. There was absolutely no need for him to repeat that over and over again. Besides, it was not manly. Once she was in the yard, he looked at her seriously, making her fussing stop. 

Mai held her breath, feeling, that Sesshomaru was about to tell her something meaningful. Of course she was just teasing him, for she had no doubts, that he loved her very much. However, every girl liked to be told it from time to time.

“Mai.” The inu-youkai said her name solemnly. “Get on Ah-Un.”

For a longer while, both of them stood perfectly still, gazing at each other, but then Mai’s gaze began transforming into a full-fledged glare. She narrowed her eyes at her idiotic husband. The sly bastard found a way around to avoid saying the three simple words again. She sighed, restraining her anger. Seriously, Sesshomaru was… unique. 

Then, the dog demon grabbed her by her waist and effortlessly lifted Mai off the ground, placing her on the dragon’s saddle. Swiftly he jumped on Ah-Un’s back and found himself behind his wife. Sesshomaru took hold of the reins and put his arm around the woman’s waist, pulling her closer to himself. The two-headed dragon leapt into the air and began flying southwards. The inu-youkai slightly lowered his head so that he could whisper in Mai’s ear.

“Nothing changed since that day.” He said quietly.

Mai smiled, hearing Sesshomaru’s confession. It was rather a meager one, but it was enough to make her feel all fuzzy inside. The woman shifted in the saddle and cuddled into her husband.

“Same here.” She whispered back, embracing the dog demon tighter. 

And so they headed to Kyoto.

It was really a gift of fate – it seemed wrong at the beginning, but this was the world Mai truly belonged to. The cursed soul switching mirror didn’t bring her misery, what she thought at first. Thanks to it she found a way towards the true happiness – she had everything, she could dream of: she established a village school, lived in a big pretty house in a countryside, but above all she had the loving family – the only thing she truly desired.

Author note: Sound like the end of the epilogue. Hm… really? Keep reading.

The next morning…

 

Satochi was lazily observing the crowd on the lively streets of Kyoto. Today was the last day of sakura viewing festival, so there were a lot of visitors, much more than usually. The man shifted on the bench, trying to find a better position. His eyes were half-closed and he seemed to be disinterested in what was happening around him, but it wasn’t true. In fact, Satochi was keeping a close watch on every man, woman and child, who passed them by. After all, it was his profession – he was the top pickpocket in Kyoto, a master in his trade. Sooner or later everyone was being caught before they reached their twenties, but he was different. Satochi was nearing his fifties with the graying hair on his temples as the proof. Nothing betrayed his true profession, for he wasn’t dressed like people picture pickpockets. He was wearing neat, rather expensive outfit instead of dirty rags. Over four decades of being in trade enabled him to earn enough to purchase a small mansion, marry a beautiful demure lady with aristocratic roots and live a comfortable life. 

The festival was a lucky time for Satochi – nearly a week of hard work proved to be rather fruitful – he stole enough gold for a his daughter’s dowry, so he considered his work done for today. The best pickpocket in Kyoto wasn’t a greedy man. Even though he didn’t intend to rob another person, he still observed his potential victims. While in a comfortable situation like this, he could be picky and choose a victim, that caught his eye. However, everyone was dull and simple, nothing out of ordinary, nothing amusing. Didn’t Satochi deserve to have some fun during the festival as well? The thief sighed and relaxed, listening to the sounds of the town.

“This is uncomfortable!” Satochi heard childish whining and lifted his eyelids, observing the newcomers – three children. 

The youngest of them, a little girl, not older than seven, was tugging the sleeve of a brown-haired boy and trying to pull her head kerchief off. She was making quite a racket, so the pickpocket paid more attention to the group than to other people.

The outfits of the kids caught Satochi’s eye, for they were rather rich-looking. The children must have belonged to the upper class, so maybe they had some gold on them. Either way, they seemed interesting enough for the thief, mainly because two of them wore strangely-looking rags on their heads. The little loud girl was dressed like a small princess, but a plain brown cloth was wrapped on her head, covering the hair. Satochi furrowed his brows. Maybe some sort of accident happened and she was concealing her bald head? As a father he knew exactly, how stupid and thoughtless kids could be.

“Isanami, you can’t take this off!” the brown-haired boy scolded her, gently slapping the girl’s little hands, what only made the small kid to flash an angered look at him.

“Hn.” The oldest and tallest of the three suddenly spoke, reaching for the cloth he wore on his head. “I find this uncomfortable too.”

The other boy shifted his attention from the little sister to his older brother and snatched his wrist before the cloth was pulled off. Satochi furrowed his brows. As a pickpocket, he had fast hands, but even he barely saw the movement of the boy’s hand – it was just too swift. Was it humanly possible to move at such speed? The boy had the potential to make quite a career in the pickpocket department.

The kid glared with his unique golden eyes at the older brother.

“Are you an idiot, Touga?” he snapped, irritation in his childish voice. “Do you want to get us into trouble? Isanami is a kid, but you should be smarter than that!”

The tall boy returned the glare and freed his wrist from his brother’s firm grip, but he didn’t try to remove the head kerchief again.

“You are nagging like mother, Kotarou.” He said coldly and quickened the pace. 

Satochi saw the brown-haired boy clench his fists, but he followed him. The girl called Isanami also trotted after those two.

Satochi the pickpocket stood up and went after his future preys. Perhaps they will grant him some entertainment after all. He was walking close to the siblings, so that he could hear, every word they spoke. He assumed the kids to be siblings, as all three had one unique trait in common – the unusually golden eyes. Satochi kept his ears open.

“What a big town.” The brown-haired boy stated, curiously looking around. “It’s worth to run away from home for a day.”

His older brother emitted a low noise from his throat, that Satochi would describe as a growl.

“It stinks here. My nose is sore.” He complained. 

The one named Kotarou folded his arms and smirked in a sly way.

“Mine too, but I’m not behaving like a grumpy old man.” He said. 

The boy named Touga immediately clenched his fist, readying to punch his brother in exchange for the insult, but the little sister hung on his arm and looked up at him with her big, golden eyes, putting up the air of innocence and cuteness.

“I’m tired. Carry me.” She pleaded in a way, no one could say no to her.

Yet the tall boy jerked his arm and freed his sleeve from her grip.

“You have your own legs. Use them.” He offered his harsh brotherly advice, but the kid wasn’t going to simply give up.

“I’ve walked enough. Carry me!” the little child kept whining, till the boy finally gave in to her demands and agreed to carry her on his back. 

Touga made a pained face, hearing Isanami making even more pleas.

“I’m hungry. Let’s go eat, okay?” 

Both boys sighed simultaneously.

“Remind me, why did she have to tag along?” Touga asked, once all three were sitting in front of dango shop and eating. 

Well, mainly the girl was eating and the brothers were just accompanying her, sitting so that their sister was between them.

“She blackmailed us into it. She threatened to tell uncle Inuyasha, where we went. Even the scent-masking herbs wouldn’t save us.” The brown-haired boy replied. 

Touga leaned his back against the wall, assuming a more comfortable position, as it seemed, that they were stuck here for a while.

“It would be indeed troublesome.” He said. “Still, she is nothing but a nuisance.”

Isanami stopped devouring dango and kicked her eldest brother in the shin.

“Be nicer to me! I’m your cute little sister!” she protested, but Touga didn’t seem to be convinced.

“Rather a little viper.” He muttered. 

The boy smirked and snatched the dango out of her palm and closed it in his hand, smirking maliciously. Satochi could swear, that he saw a green gleam and after the kid opened his hand, the food was simply gone. The girl widened her eyes, staring at the scene in disbelief.

“My dango… you melted it, you meanie!” she screamed and advanced on the tall boy, trying to scratch him like some wild animal. “I’ll defeat you, you bad demon!”

The boy only snatched her head, effortlessly keeping the girl at the arm-distance and with amusement observed her futile attempts to get him.

“Quit it, little girl.” He said in a mocking tone. “You have neither claws nor fangs. How possibly could you defeat me?”

“I’ll find the way!” Isanami exclaimed, still struggling with her brother.

In the middle of commotion the head kerchiefs got untied and fell to the ground, exposing, what the siblings had been hiding from the onlookers.

Satochi bit into his meal, now having the perfect chance to take a good look at the unusual siblings. The kids were strange indeed.

The boy, called Touga, whose estimated age was around thirteen, was nearly as tall as grown men. His long silver hair were gathered in a ponytail. Satochi was never a superstitious person, but the kid looked like a demon should – his face was unnaturally handsome, with a single magenta stripe on each cheek. His ears didn’t look normally either – they were pointed. Indeed, everything around the boy screamed: suspicious. The pickpocket noticed, that the kid’s nails were long and looked sharp, rather like claws than nails.

Then, his younger brother pounced on him, covering Touga’s head with the cloth. As the boys kept arguing, Satochi saw the gleam of two sets of fangs. The other boy, Kotarou, looked more normal than his older brother, but it was only at the first glance. As one looked closer, he could see, that the boys were equally suspicious. The brown-haired kid was about two years younger than his brother. He also possessed the abnormally long claws and teeth, his ears were pointy too, but it wasn’t really noticeable, since his brown hair, that reached a little past the shoulders, had been let loose and covered the ears. Kotarou resembled Touga, but he seemed much more human, as his face features were less regular and rather common, lacking the strange markings.

The smallest of the noisy trio had the same silver hair as the eldest of the siblings, but beside that and her golden eyes she looked just like any other kid her age.

“I want my dango!” the girl named Isanami hissed out and leapt onto Touga. 

The boy snatched the back of her neck and yanked the kid off himself, teasing her. She bit his hand, clenching her teeth on the flesh with all her might, but he didn’t even wince. Seeing, that it was pointless, the kid sat and folded her arms, pouting. “You two are always mean to me!”

“It is older siblings’ job to make one’s life miserable.” Touga shared his wisdom, covering her head with the head kerchief. “Consider it a favor. You cannot have a proper childhood without it.”

“Smartass.” The younger brother muttered, glaring at the taller boy. 

Isanami sighed heavily.

“My life is hard.” She stated dramatically, having rather a funny definition of hardships. She pulled her knees to the chest and glanced at her brothers, jealous look in her eyes. She sighed again. “Why I’m so weak? You two are so strong and I’m the odd one.”

Kotarou patted her on her head.

“Don’t let it bother you. You’re a girl, so you don’t have to fight. Besides, you have us to protect you.” He said with a smile.

“You do not need youkai strength to be powerful, you foolish girl.” Touga joined his brother in attempt to make Isanami feel better. “Our mother is a human and she has enough power to tame the strongest demon, I know.”

Kotarou folded his arms, arching his eyebrow.

“It’s called blackmailing.” He pointed out.

“Still, it’s not fair, that I’m the only one, who’s so weak!” Isanami complained.

“It’s all his fault.” Kotarou replied immediately, pointing his clawed finger at Touga accusingly. “He took too much youki for himself and stole your share.”

The eldest of the tree glared at his younger brother. Isanami sent Touga a suspicious look.

“He’s a greedy one, isn’t he?” she addressed Kotarou, who nodded. The two siblings were talking among themselves, as though their brother wasn’t sitting beside them. The brown-haired boy put the hand on the girl’s shoulder.

“Worry not, Isanami, for we have something, he will never have.” Kotarou said in a solemn tone. 

The little sister stared at him in anticipation, while Touga arched his eyebrow.

“What would that be?” he asked.

Kotarou grinned.

“Brain.” He answered.

That was the beginning of the chaos, that ensued a while later. Satochi the pickpocket saw Touga’s eyes turn red, as the boy’s fist flew straight in the direction of Kotarou’s face. However, the younger boy managed to barely dodge the blow and Touga’s fist landed on the brick wall. To everyone’s surprise, it didn’t stop on the solid surface, but pierced the wall, as though it was just paper. The younger of the brothers smirked, lightly jumping on his feet.

“You missed.” He said in a mocking tone. Isanami sighed heavily, used to the antics of her stupid brothers.

“What is going on here?!” the owner of the dango shop ran outside and, seeing the hole in the brick wall, began shouting at the underage suspects, threatening them with a wooden club. “You brats! Look, what you did! Who will pay for the damage?!”

Satochi shook his head. From what he saw, he could deduce, that his grandmother’s tales weren’t a lie after all and youkai did exist, the evidence before his very eyes. But, he wasn’t entirely sure. Weren’t demons supposed to be bloodthirsty beasts, who thought only of killing humans? What kind of youkai ran away from home to see a festival and devoured dango? Moreover, it seemed unlikely, that the demons got blackmailed by their little sister. And yet…

“Pay!” the shop’s owner demanded. 

In the meantime a rather big crowd gathered to gawk at the scene. The brothers exchanged looks.

“Retreat.” Touga commanded, turning on his heel. Kotarou did the same, taking Isanami’s hand.

“You won’t escape without paying!” the shop’s owner yelled and took a deep breath. “GUARDS!”

Satochi shook his head, thinking, that the kids were magnet for trouble. Maybe it was some kind of hereditary curse? Unfortunately for the kids, the guards arrived much quicker than expected and insisted on taking the children into custody till their parents showed up and paid for the damage.

“When father finds out, we’re dead meat.” Kotarou said quietly. 

His brother nodded, apparently sharing the thought. Touga glared at the guards. Unluckily for them, the head kerchiefs got blown away by the wind and the people around began to have suspicions about the kids’ true identity.

“They’re mononoke!” one of the guards stated, pointing the demon markings on Touga’s face.

“Hn.” The boy spoke arrogantly. “Move out of the way.”

However, the guards readied their naginatas, more than eager to slay the youkai. Isanami cuddled into her brother Kotarou. The brown-haired boy sighed, seeing Touga all fired up for the fight. Maybe his brother was still a child, but his strength was not to be underestimated. He could kill everyone in  the vicinity if he only wanted.

“Better do as he says.” He addressed the guards, giving them a friendly advice, before turning to his brother. “You know that if you kill anyone, mom will skin you alive, right?”

“Tch!” Touga hissed with irritation.

When the guards were about to charge, a small figure pushed her way through the arm men and firmly stalked towards the troublesome trio. Satochi craned his neck to see the source of interruption better. It was a short woman, shorter even than thirteen-year-old Touga, dressed in an elegant twelve-layered kimono, the attire, that was reserved only for the noblewomen. Her brown eyes with a shade of green were glaring daggers at the demon children, especially the brothers. They gulped, staring at their feet. Satochi narrowed his eyes. Could it be possible… The pickpocket compared her face to Kotarou’s and Isanami’s. There was no doubt about it – the two kids resembled her, so she had to be their…

“Sorry, mom.” The younger one mumbled. 

Touga looked away, not eager to meet his mother’s angered eyes.

“Mommy!” Isanami pushed herself between the brothers and darted to the woman, embracing her tightly. “They kidnapped me!”

The lady arched her eyebrow, not believing the kid’s obvious lie.

“It doesn’t work on me, sweetheart.” She said to her daughter, sending her a scolding look. Then, she shifted her attention back to the boys. She shook her head. “To pull off a stunt like that… You’re grounded for a month!”

Everyone was staring at the strange group. Finally, one of the guards found his voice.

“Lady, step aside. We must get rid of those mononoke!” he called to the woman. 

She sighed heavily and opened her mouth to reply to the soldiers, when she froze, seeing the ominous presence behind the men. 

“Do you have a death wish if you threaten my family?” a deep voice sounded behind the guards. 

They turned around and saw the ultimate danger – the demon children’s father. The youkai was tall, his intimidating aura flaring around him. The soldiers froze in fear, completely forgetting about slaying mononoke, as primal instincts kicked in. It was obvious, that attacking this demon was folly. They observed silently the man approaching the group, his death glare set on the boys. 

Satochi made a mental note, that the eldest son looked like the carbon copy of his father.

“Once we are back home, you will not escape punishment.” The grown demon announced, sealing his children’s fate. 

He turned on his heel, about to walk away, when the little girl blocked his way, reaching out with her arms. Avoiding to show emotion, the man snatched the girl in his arms and set off. The lady smiled fondly, seeing the scene, hiked her kimono and followed her husband with two sons trotting after them.

Satochi shook his head, not believing, that he saw such an unique family. Well, maybe it was half-demonic, but looked like a good family.

Sesshomaru was displeased. Extremely displeased. Not that he despised his troublesome offspring, but he wished to spend some time with his spouse alone. Now his plans had been ruined by the insolent pups – this particular trait they must had inherited from his lovely wife, along with her escaping abilities.

“Sesshomaru, maybe we should make use of that we are all together here. Maybe we could go to the market.” Mai suggested, pointing the stalls. 

Everyone’s eyes brightened, that is everyone’s except Sesshomaru.

“We could.” He agreed nonetheless, wanting to please his wife and pups. Mai flashed a smile at him and reached out with her hand.

“I’d like to buy a new bracelet. There’s quite a choice here.” She said, her eyes glistening. 

Soon the pups followed their mother’s example and surrounded Sesshomaru, who was feeling like under siege.

“I’m old enough to have my own armor.” Touga said seriously, making the same gesture like Mai, outstretching his palm. Kotarou mimicked him.

“I’d like to buy a book or two. I’ve already read the ones I got last time.” He demanded.

“I want dango!” Isanami added her wish.

Sesshomaru closed his eyes, summoning all his patience.

“Rejected.” He stated. Then, protests started.

“Father, I am not a little pup anymore!”

“Sesshomaru, it’s a festival!”

“Daddy, Touga melted my dango!”

“Father, books!”

The inu-youkai glared at his family, his resolve not to give in to their demands crumbling. If he had a weakness, it was his spouse and the three pups.

“We shall see.” He muttered an agreement, what was met with enthusiasm.

Isanami squeezed his neck, his wife climbed on her toes and kissed his cheek, while his sons flashed happy smiles at him.

Soon enough the children darted in all direction, enthusiastically exploring the market, leaving Mai and Sesshomaru alone. Their hands met and fingers entwined, as they were strolling side by side, keeping close watch on the children. It was just as it should be, nothing more, nothing less.

Author Note:

Thank you for all support and encouragement, I’ve received from you, for sacrificing your time and reading my first story “Through the looking glass”. I hope, that I managed to bring you a little bit of happiness through writing this story for you.

If you liked the fanfic, check out my other stories on my second blog:

 
www.wyrwas-books.blogspot.com