How I Met Your Mother by Byjinder

Chapter 1

A/N: This is a new fic. Originally it was supposed to be an answer to a challenge but that's been thrown out the window. I hope you enjoy it anyway.

Summary: Sesshoumaru tells the tale of how he fell in love with the miko from the future.

Disclaimer: For the first and last time I do not own Inuyasha. All other characters, however, are mine unless stated otherwise.

How I Met Your Mother: Chapter One

The little girl sat on the edge of the bed, swinging her legs waiting patiently for her Inupapa to come and tuck her in. her patience was rewarded when her father walked in.

"Inupapa!" she exclaimed excitedly. He gave a little grimace of distaste at the nickname, and then sighed. "You'll never call anything but that ever again will you?"

She smiled brightly. "You used to call your father that and I want to call you that too. You won't make me stop will you Inupapa?" She pouted and widened her eyes, doing the perfect imitation of a wounded puppy dog. She smiled fondly at his daughter, he could deny her nothing. "Of course I won't little treasure. Now get in bed so I can tuck you in."

She quickly scrambled under the covers and lied still while he tucked the covers under her chin. "Now what story do you want to hear tonight?" he asked. The little girl furrowed her brow and thought for a moment then said, "I want to hear the story of how you and okaa-san fell in love."

Her father smiled. "That may take a long time Takara; are you sure you don't want to choose something else, a favored fairytale perhaps?"

"Inupapa, as much as I love you, you don't remember the regular fairytales so I thought I'd choose a story that you would know because it actually happened."

He looked offended. "You didn't enjoy Goldilocks and the Three Blind Mice? I thought I told it quite well."

Takara pursed her lips in distaste. "Inupapa, the Three Bind Mice isn't even a fairytale, it's a nursery rhyme." The elder Inu frowned in consideration, "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure. So, instead of confusing nursery rhymes and fairytales, or whatever else you can come up with, you can tell me a real story." She raised an eyebrow at her father, looking uncannily like him in that moment, "You do remember how you and mommy met right?"

He gave a snort of disbelief. "Impertinent child, of course I remember how I met your mother. If that is the tale you want to hear then I will tell you but only a little bit tonight."

"Aww Inupapa," Takara started to complain but was silenced quickly. "Now young lady you know that your bedtime is nine o' clock sharp! You are a growing pup who needs her rest. Do not worry; the story is so long that you will have many a bedtime story for some time to come. Now settle down and I will begin." He lay down beside her and draped an arm over her head. Stroking her soft hair, he began to speak.

"A long time ago, about five hundred and thirty years, I was a cruel man; cold, unfeeling and uncaring about others and their lives." Takara's eyes widened in surprise, "Inupapa, I don't believe it. You're not like that at all."

"Hush child," he admonished softly. "Events have happened in my life that changed my outlook but make no mistake, your Inupapa that you know now, is not the person others knew back then. I was the strong, proud and fierce demon ruler of the Western Lands. All feared me and not many were brave or foolish enough to challenge me. I lived up to the meaning of my name, The Killing Perfection. I had the world at my feet save for one thing, a sword of great power, the Tetsusaiga. It was made from the fang of your grandfather, a present to his son, but that son was not me. However, it did not matter. I wanted it and I would have it. Your grandfather was a great trickster and a master of intrigue, which means deception or stratagem by the way. Remember that, it's an SAT word."

"Inupapa, I'm only seven years old! I don't have to worry about the SATs for a long time."

"Young pup it is never too early to prepare. Time is one thing that you should never take for granted. She is a fickle mistress that snatches with one hand while blessing with the other." His eyes clouded over for a moment as unwanted thoughts crowded his mind. Takara, intuitive for her age, simply watched and waited, knowing that her Inupapa needed this moment in time. When the clouds passed from his eyes once more, he began the story again.

"Your grandfather, a master of intrigue, set many traps and obstacles before he died to keep me from the sword. Many a time I cursed him to hell if he wasn't already there and although I'll never admit it to anyone else I almost gave up. Fortunately, being who I am, I persevered, note another SAT word, meaning to keep going through all obstacles and trials, and found the real hiding place of the sword. I must admit, my father was clever. He had hidden it in the one place I would never have thought to look, your uncle's eye."

"Uncle Yasha?" Takara exclaimed.

"Yes, my love, Uncle Yasha. I set out to find the half-breed. He had been sealed to a great tree in the outskirts of my lands; last I had heard, but had been recently resurrected. I manipulated a demon that was comprised of the souls of mothers whose children have been lost to war. She bore the form of Inuyasha's mother Izayoi and lulled him into a daze. There was a young girl with Inuyasha, a ningen whom Jaken had chained down. She somehow broke free and disrupted the image of Izayoi that the she-demon channeled. You know your uncle; he is brash, loud and foul-tempered. He was none too happy with my deception. He tried to attack me and I plucked out his eye."

Takara gasped in horror, "His eye Inupapa?"

"Well," he amended, "Not his actual eye but a pearl that resided in his eye. It was the gateway to the sword I wanted. You see, inside the pearl was your grandfather's grave. His skeleton dominated the barren scenery, just as tall and proud as he had been in life. I made my way inside to where his heart would have been had he been alive, that is where I felt the power of Tetsusaiga pulsing rhythmically but when I reached out to take it I was repelled. There was a barrier around it, protecting it from me. I was angry and your uncle, he always had a bad sense of timing, unfortunately chose that moment to charge in throwing every profanity known to man and demon alike angry that I had attacked him because of what in his eyes was a rusty sword that couldn't cut paper. All the while the ningen onna was in the background urging him to take the sword, telling him that it would be a blow to my ego if he could take it out since I couldn't. She was quite annoying really. Inuyasha took her words to heart and tried to take Tetsusaiga, Jaken tried to stop him with the Staff of Heads but the onna took it from him and knocked him out. I was briefly amused but that faded quickly as she was deterring me from my goal. With no interruptions, Inuyasha tried to get Tetsusaiga but was rejected by the barrier as well. This made him quite angry and he turned his rage on the girl calling her stupid as well as some other choice names I won't sully your hearing with. She did not take to this kindly and yelled right back asking him, how hard was it to pull out a stupid sword and then proceeded to pull it out herself.

To say that both Inuyasha and I were shocked and surprised would be an understatement. I, however, quickly got over it and angered that I had been bested by a mere ningen onna proceeded to melt her with my poison. Your uncle did not take too well to that and attacked. The seeming death of the girl made him strong in his anger and he got a few good blows in, which is not an easy task when dealing with this Sesshoumaru. I was just about tired of dealing with the half-breed as well as angry and frustrated that I had lost the Tetsusaiga, which I had desired so greatly and was getting ready to kill him and make my way home when I was shocked and surprised for the second time that day. The girl I thought I had just killed popped back up from under a pile of bones and she was quite angry. After ensuring Inuyasha that she was fine she turned and gave me a tongue thrashing that not even my own father had not dared to do once I became of age. Then she turned and gave the Tetsusaiga to Inuyasha. I was livid by then. All my plans had gone awry and it was largely in part to this onna and the half-breed. I decided to rid the world of them both once and for all. I transformed into my large Inu form, confident that I would soon feel that bones of my enemies crushed in my maw. Fate, however, would not permit this. As I moved to strike the killing blow, Inuyasha transformed the Tetsusaiga into its true form to protect the girl and cut off my left arm. As I roared in pain, all I could think of was that I had failed in my quest and it was all because of a ningen onna." He paused and a small smile graced his face. He looked at his daughter excited but struggling to stay awake.

"It's time for you to go to bed little treasure. Now, now do not protest. You wanted to hear the story and now you have. That my dear is how I met your mother."

Definitions:

Ningen: human

Onna: woman

Takara: her name means treasure in Japanese.

A/N: Read and Review to tell me what you think, NO FLAMES! I WON'T ANSWER THEM. However, constructive criticism is always appreciated. I will try to have to try to have the next chapter up within a month. If you want to be notified when I update this story just send an email to Byjinder@aol.com with the Update: HIMYM in the subject line. The same goes for all my other fanfics or if you just want to be notified when I update at all just put the subject line as Update: All. Till next time......