Five days passed. Sesshoumaru grew stronger, and so it seemed did his father’s enemy, whose stronghold finally showed signs that it was preparing for war. Despite his rapid recovery, which surprised even Kuailong, Sesshoumaru knew war would come before he was ready to fight, and the very thought of not being able to stand at his father’s side on the battlefield infuriated him. He hoped his allies would leave the sorcerer Yasha to him but wasn’t holding his breath. If the human could survive under the wrath of two goddesses for thousands of years, how could the young son of a demon lord hope to destroy him? Sesshoumaru suspected Kuailong might know how to kill Yasha but hadn’t had the opportunity to ask her about it, since he saw her so rarely. She and Jigokuyari spent most of their nights spying out the Yomitora, which didn’t sit well with Gintsuki, who was very possessive of Jigokuyari. Jigo was often nursing the scratches from her claws when he came to eat lunch with Sesshoumaru each afternoon.
        "It isn’t what Gintsuki thinks it is!" Jigo whined to his childhood friend, who didn’t look convinced.
        "You have a reputation," Sesshoumaru smirked, "and she knows it. Be honest with me: Is there something between you and Kuailong?" In spite of himself, Sesshoumaru hoped his friend would continue to insist there really was nothing but friendship between him and the dragon’s daughter. After all, Jigokuyari had only met her in the past two weeks, while he, Sesshoumaru, had heard about her from childhood and even had a statue of her in her dragon form, which he kept in his chambers. If she was going to bond with anyone outside of his father, it should be him.
        Jigokuyari sighed heavily and poked at his rice, then all at once he smiled and gave Sesshoumaru a sly look. "She is a very beautiful woman, true, and if she’d ever condescend to notice such a child as myself, well…how could I refuse such a person? But," another sigh, "one of her vows was chastity, so even if I suspected she had even the slightest interest in me, she would never act upon it."
        Sesshoumaru shook his head. "Have you explained this to Gintsuki?"
        "Of course, and see what good it does me!" He pointed at newest scratches on his face. "My bed has been cold ever since Kuailong’s arrival! It’s no fair, Sesshoumaru. I’ll go mad if she won’t forgive me soon."
        "How can we expect you to concentrate on the battlefield if you haven’t been satisfied in the bed chamber?" Sesshoumaru chuckled.
        Jigokuyari frowned. "You mock me."
        A smile and a nod was Sesshoumaru’s only response to that as he shoveled rice into his mouth. Faint taste of jasmine in the rice. Interesting touch. He wondered who’d prepared his lunch today that would think to put jasmine in the rice. Shinju? Kuailong? None of his father’s usual servants had ever put jasmine in rice, so it had to be one of the newcomers.
        "I hope you’re enjoying your rice, Sesshoumaru," Jigokuyari pouted. "I made it to soothe Gintsuki, but she’d have no part of it, so I’m feeding it to you. It’s criminal to let rice go to waste, especially after I poured so much of my poor broken heart into it."
        Sesshoumaru almost gagged on a mouthful of the stuff as he tried to keep from laughing at his friend. The poor man had stooped to cooking a fancy meal for his woman, and she wouldn’t even sniff it. "It’s delicious," he told Jigo with deepest sincerity. "Would you like me to speak to Gintsuki on your behalf? I know she respects me, at least."
        "Oh no!" Jigokuyari shook his head emphatically. "You’re my best friend, and she knows it! She’ll see it as a plot and not listen to a word you say. No, I shall just have to handle this one on my own." He grinned and added with a wink: "Or find a new woman."
        "Ever the resourceful one…" Sesshoumaru sighed. "What news from the enemy?"
        Jigokuyari downed a mouthful of rice before answering. "He is gathering arms, supplies, horses and men. We have also felt the presence of demons, though we have only seen a few of them. Demons like myself, not beasts. I suspect these are emissaries from Lord Asahi, and his main forces won’t show themselves until it’s time for battle."
        "He fears my father will make a preemptive strike if he sees a demon horde?" Sesshoumaru sounded skeptical. "No, it doesn’t make sense. If Yomitora has made an alliance with Lord Asahi, then we should be seeing more of his people in the human’s fortress by now! I don’t like it."
        Jigokuyari grunted his agreement with a gleam in his eyes. "Nor does Lord Nishi, nor Kuailong. They spend hours in his chambers, just the two of them, and when they emerge, neither looks happy. Then Kuailong and I are sent back to the Yomitora to gather more information."
        "What of my father’s other vassals?" Sesshoumaru asked.
        "Kontonkaze and Samuishi were sent to Lord Arashi when we were certain you’d survive, to see if his offer of alliance wasn’t just a trick. Apparently, it is a valid offer, and the brothers are negotiating terms. The others are making preparations for battle, which you already know."
        Sesshoumaru nodded. He already knew much of what Jigokuyari was telling him, though Jigo was the only one of his father’s vassals allowed to see him until he grew stronger. For now, the most he could do unassisted was walk about his room and sit up and talk to visitors. Kuailong thought he might be presentable in the next day or so, however, and Sesshoumaru was anxious to sit in on Lord Nishi’s war councils, rather than get the information second hand.
        "When will the battle come?" Sesshoumaru asked. "Have you been able to make a guess from what you’ve seen? Is my father planning a preemptive strike, before their preparations are complete?"
        "That, I do not know," Jigokuyari replied somberly. "If that is in his mind, your Lord father hasn’t confided it in his vassals. As for when battle might come… if I had to hazard a guess, I would say in the next few weeks, if that. Their preparations have taken on an air of urgency in the last three or four days."
        Sesshoumaru nodded thoughtfully, and served himself more rice. He and Jigokuyari were alone in his room, without Jaken, whom Sesshoumaru had sent away. The little toad had spent the past two weeks hovering over him like an overprotective mother hen, and Sesshoumaru had had enough of being doted upon. At least Jigokuyari didn’t treat him like a feeble old woman.
        "You haven’t asked me about the swords today, Sesshoumaru."
        Sesshoumaru shrugged. "I suspect you will tell me what you tell me everyday: They’re still being forged."
        The other demon grinned and shook his head. "Today I have better news. Toutousai presented the swords to Lord Nishi barely an hour ago. You should receive word from your father soon, I think."

        Word came in less than an hour, in the person of Kuailong, summoning Sesshoumaru to Lord Nishi’s chambers. Toutousai was there, but none of the Lord’s vassals was present. Kuailong helped Sesshoumaru seat himself in front of his father, then sat down on his right. Toutousai sat on Sesshoumaru’s left. On a cloth on the mat in front of Lord Nishi lay two sheathed swords. Sesshoumaru was surprised to see how slender they were, like ordinary katana, though they’d been made from his father’s enormous fangs. They must be magic, he decided. Small when at rest but huge when in battle. He recognized Tetsusaiga immediately from his dreams and was only just barely able to keep himself from reaching out to touch it, though his eyes never strayed from it as his father spoke. It lay there like a sleeping snake, ready to rise up and strike at the slightest threat.
        "You recognize Tetsusaiga, my son?" Lord Nishi asked quietly.
        Sesshoumaru nodded. "From my dreams of the boy." He was dying to ask if he could touch it but feared his father would deny him. After all, Lord Nishi had said he wouldn’t bestow either sword on his sons until after his death. Much to his astonishment, however, his father picked up Tetsusaiga and held it out for him to take.
        Sesshoumaru’s heart raced in his chest as his fingers closed about the black hilt. "Wax?" He thought in surprise, having expected wood. He lay it on his knees and ran his hands over the hilt, feeling a tingle of power as he did. Then, with a quick glance for permission from his father, Sesshoumaru very slowly pulled the blade from its sheath.
        It was beautiful, not the nicked and rusted sword from his dreams, but a magnificent, shining, deadly thing that flashed like lightening with every movement in the torchlight. Sesshoumaru held it before his face and was pleased by the reflection of his hard, golden eyes in the new-forged metal. What a weapon! He could feel its power thrumming in his palm and tingling through his very blood! He had to bite his lip against the thrill, which was almost like holding a lover, a feeling he hadn’t known in a very long time.
        "Father…it’s magnificent…"
        Toutousai grunted his pleasure at Sesshoumaru’s compliment. Lord Nishi smiled and held out his hand for the sword. Sesshoumaru reluctantly sheathed Tetsusaiga and returned it to his father, who held out Tenseiga for him to take. This sword was slimmer and light as a feather, with a white pommel and grip. Where Tetsusaiga was all darkness and death, this sword was light and life. Tenseiga the life-giver, the yang to Tetsusaiga’s Yin. He drew the blade and held it before his eyes as he had Tetsusaiga…and was startled by the kinder reflection of his eyes in the metal. Not a gentle kindness, he thought, but not the cold hardness he’d seen reflected in Tetsusaiga’s blade. Interesting. He put the sword back into its sheath but hesitated to return it. It was warm in his palm, like a living thing, and it felt…comfortable. As if it belonged there, like a weapon he’d used for many years. Strange. Why hadn’t he gotten such a feeling from Tetsusaiga?
        Sesshoumaru shook the feeling from his mind and gave Tenseiga back to his father with a thoughtful expression on his face. "I could feel the difference in their powers," he said carefully, avoiding those other impressions. "Even if I hadn’t seen Tetsusaiga in my dream, or had you tell me about the swords Toutousai was forging from your fangs, I would have know which gave death and which life."
        Lord Nishi nodded, an approving smile lifting the corner of his lip. "When your brother is old enough, I will decide who will have which of these swords upon my death. He will test them, just as you have now." He cocked his head to the side and asked curiously: "Which called to you, Sesshoumaru? Tetsusaiga or Tenseiga?"
        Sesshoumaru hesitated and for a few moments didn’t meet his father’s eyes, then at last he let go the breath he’d been holding and replied: "I felt drawn to Tetsusaiga, but…" he looked down at the swords, lying innocently at Lord Nishi’s knees. "But it seemed…it seemed Tenseiga was drawn to me." There, he’d said it. Why hadn’t Tetsusaiga called to him, as the life-giving sword had done? Surely he was meant to have the more terrible of blades! He looked up into his father’s face and found the old Lord smiling. "Was that your intention, My Lord?"
        He shook his head. "No. I asked only that Toutousai forge swords to these specifications, nothing more. I am eager to see what impressions your brother will have when he is old enough to understand."
        Sesshoumaru nodded but in his mind’s eye he saw the boy from his dream, his unborn brother, wielding Tetsusaiga against him. What had happened to that sword after Lord Nishi’s death that it would become so unkempt and battered, he wondered.
        "I will test both in the coming battle with the Yomitora," Lord Nishi announced, startling Sesshoumaru out of his thoughts. "Toutousai boasts that Tetsusaiga can slay a thousand demons in a single stroke. I am eager to test his claims."
        "As we are eager to see you test them," Kuailong said.
        The old blacksmith snorted: "You doubt me after all these years, My Lord? Has Toutousai ever failed to deliver on his promises?!"
        Nishi laughed. "You have never failed me, Toutousai. I only meant that I was eager to see your handiwork in action."
        That seemed to satisfy the old man, as well as amuse Kuailong and Nishi, but Sesshoumaru remained mired in his own thoughts. Why would a sword with the power to restore life be drawn to him? It made no sense. It wasn’t as if he’d ever had a desire to be a healer, nor that he secretly harbored a gentle soul in his demon breast. He looked at Tenseiga again, and again felt its pull. Hm. Perhaps there was more to it than just restoring life…but what? The swords were obviously created to balance one another: Life and Death, Light and Dark, Yang and Yin. Could Tenseiga be used as an ordinary blade that could kill, or was it unable to take life?
        "Sesshoumaru?" Kuailong nudged his knee. "What are you thinking about?"
        He blinked and looked into her curious eyes. "I was just…" he hesitated, then decided he’d just as well ask: "Can Tenseiga kill?"
        Lord Nishi smiled as if he’d been waiting for his son to ask that very question. "No. Tenseiga restores life, so it cannot take it. That," he picked up Tetsusaiga and stuck it into his belt, then pushed Tenseiga into the belt below it, "is Tetsusaiga’s job."
        Sesshoumaru noticed the arrangement of the swords in his father’s belt and knew which Lord Nishi viewed as the primary weapon: Tetsusaiga. That clinched it: He would make Tetsusaiga his inheritance no matter what it took.