His Pride

"Milord, she has arrived."

The now older inu youkai looked up as he lay in his room. "She's alive?" he whispered, his voice scratchy due to illness that had plaugued his body for many, many years. Being he was a demon, it prolonged things. But now it couldn't be helped, for the once proud ruler of the Western Lands was dying.

Yet he had unfinished business before he made that final departure.
His manservant moved as a figure walked in. Her long silver hair was tied back in a loose ponytail, wearing a blue silk kimono with silver fringe and silver embordered flowers. She looked every bit like his brother that he had lost. But to him, it was seeing an angel appear from the gates of Heaven. He had thought her dead years back, but soon discovered she was alive.

This very piece of information brought joy to him, even if he refused to show it.

His amber eyes softened slightly as the girl bowed on one knee before walking to his bedside. "Uncle," she said softly as she touched his cheek. "Had I known you survived, I would've been here sooner." She looked down. He touched her cheek as he lifted her chin up gently. "You look so much like your father," he said softly. "Yet so beautiful." She smiled a bit hearing his words. She then felt him move slowly getting out of bed.

Even his servants seemed stunned, yet it was told he'd never get up unless some miracle happened.

He reached for his cane slowly rising, old bones creaking as much as he felt. She moved to his side letting him lean on her for leverage. "Come, we must talk," he said softly his hand upon his niece's shoulder as he walked with her to his study. She looked around the old castle, in her childhood days a place her father hated, but she suddenly realized just how old she was in a way.
She lived in the future now, a fourteen-year-old girl. To return to her past was truly making her feel her true age.

Which was well over sixty.

He sat down once more in his chair, coughing a bit, but soon regained his breath. He turned and looked at her patting his lap as she moved sitting on his knee. "After I leave this world, you will be the last surviving member of our race," he said softly. "One day, it will be revived, but for now...you are now the princess of these lands. It will be up to you how they are divided among the other youkai lords, for you know women cannot rule." She merely nodded. "My swords will be in your possession," he continued. "However...since you haven't a child yet, I ask this."

She looked up at him, her amber eyes questioning. "What is it, Uncle?" she asked. He studied her young face. The spell she had been placed under for fifty years kept her asleep in an ageless way. Physically, emotionally, and mentally, she was a mere child, a teenager. But he knew she was mature beyond that. "Your father once carried our father's grave inside the black pearl," he said. "It was behind his right eye. Once I die, the magic will begin again and I will lay with your father and our father, who is your grandfather. The pearl will revive. Can you carry that weight on you? To hide our legacies behind your own eye?"

She looked at him a moment. She didn't hesitate in her words. "It would be my greatest honor to do so," she said. He smiled slightly. He rarely smiled as it was, but for her case, he needed to. "Rin has moved on with her life, so I leave it to you to tell her," he said. The old toad, Jaken, had long since died peacefully. She looked at her uncle. "You were the last person I thought would suffer like this," she said as he held her close. "Even we aren't immune to things," he said. "At least I won't go alone. You will stay, right?" "Yes," she said as she sighed. "I still feel so awful to know you lived all this time and it took now to even know."

He stroked her hair. "I always knew you were alive," he whispered as she raised a brow looking at him. "How?" she asked. "You were my pride," he said. "The one who's spirit kept me going all these years even in your modern era. I didn't wish your life to be interrupted since you were moving forward." She slowly nodded. "I'm a ninja now," she said. "I'm one of Japan's military." "Do they use swords still?" he asked. "Not as often," she admitted. "The age of the sword is disappearing," he said. She frowned. "Yet I fight by our old ways," she said. "I haven't forgotten those."

"Be sure you don't."

She looked up at him. "I never will," she said. "Tell me more," he said leaning back. "Do you have a lover?" She nodded. "Yes," she said. "Good," he said. "He will treat you well." "He already does," she said. He nodded. "What else do you do?" he asked. "I'm an artist," she answered. "I do paintings and such, make money that way." He smiled listening to her speak. She spoke of things the modern world held, that somehow he already knew. How this was possible, he had no idea.

Night had settled in. She arrived back in his room as he now lay down once more with some water for him to drink, wiping off his forehead. Things had settled between them. She sat at his side holding his hand. "Tell Papa I said hi when you see him," she said. He nodded. "We have much to speak on," he said. He looked at her a moment. She knew then he didn't have much longer.

"Uncle Sesshomaru."

"Yes, Yasha?"

"I love you."

Sesshomaru's eyes filled with tears as one slid down his cheek. He touched her face gently. "I love you too, my pride...my angel," he whispered his eyes closing. Yasha held his hand to her cheek nuzzling it when she felt it drop into her lap. She stared at this as she watched the once proud demon breathe his last. She leaned forward and kissed his forehead before her own tears fell. Before she knew it, she was sobbing against his chest. Her fingers gripped his kimono as she cried. A light shone around his body as she looked up seeing it disappear in what seemed like sakura blossoms.

And soon transform into a black pearl...the one housing the three generations.

And she, the fourth and last for now.

Yasha felt her right eye unable to blink as the pearl shot through it. She gripped her eye as blood slid from her fingers panting softly as she lay on her uncle's bed. She would be blind in that eye for now, until it settled in. She somehow fell unconsious from the pain, laying in her uncle's bed. The remainder of her tears slid onto his pillow.
***
Several days passed.

A figure emerged from a well in Konoha, in a temple of the Uchiha clan. She wore an eyepatch over her right eye, her clothing now a pink tank top with a fishnet top over it. She had blue jean shorts on, her kunai strapped to her right leg. On her hip, Tetsusaiga, her father's sword. But wrapped in the kimono she had worn, Tensegia and Tokijin. With a heavy heart, Yasha sealed the well with her spirtitual power as she slid down to her knees.

She sighed slowly pulling herself up to her now sandaled feet. She wore the black ninja shoes of her village. Around her neck was a locket containing the Shikon no Tama, a phoenix necklace, and one representing the Uchiha Clan, their symbol. She walked down the streets saying nothing for the time being as she walked into the Hokage Tower and entered his office. "Nii-san."

Naruto Uzumaki turned seeing his adopted sister standing there. "He's gone," she said as he walked to her and hugged her. "Will you be ok?" he whispered. She nodded as she looked at him with her visible eye. "Where's Sasuke?" she asked softly. He led her to another office. "Sasuke, she's back," he said.

Yasha merely ran into the waiting arms of Sasuke Uchiha, her lover as she buried her head in his chest. Sasuke held her moving to sit down as he held her close letting her cry. He looked at the swords and at Naruto, who nodded and took them to get special cases made for them. He hung them on a wall...right beside a portrait of the dog demon himself.
The one Yasha herself has painted.

And now her greatest and proudest work of all.

For she was his pride.