The Taisho fire

Yukata

To say she was drooling was an understatement, and not because of the magnificent display of food that overflowed the breakfast table where InuYasha's brood was gathered. Savouring some jasmine tea, Gwen couldn't keep her eyes off Tōga who tried to understand the broken Japanese of a little boy whose starry eyes didn't stray from his face.

Competition in the form of an adorable toddler. So unfair.

"The yukata looks nice on him."

Gwen almost lurched out of her skin when Towa's voice echoed in her ear, her cheeks reddening by the minute.

"Yes. Good choice," she responded, diving into the cup of tea to hide her flustering. To no avail; whether by scent of by sheer observation, she'd been caught. Towa, if overly cheerful, had a keen sense of human interaction and she couldn't have missed how Gwen literally devoured her man in his new attire. Officially, he started wearing them because it was easier to slide on and off with his bad shoulder, and allowed his thigh to be bandaged tight without any pant leg getting in the way.

Officiously, it gave her an aperçu of what he might have looked like in times past.

"Dark blue is a standard for men's kimono, but 'Pa prefers his whites."

Gwen nodded, observing the contrast between the midnight cotton and Tōga's golden skin; Towa had chosen well. But he, too, used to wear white as the Inu no Taishō.

"Does he still wear traditional kimono often ?"

The half demon scrunched her nose in distaste before she picked up a piece of grilled fish with her chopsticks. "Sometimes... and he would definitely give you an earful if he heard you."

Confused, Gwen cocked her head aside. "How so ?"

"Kimono is not right. His are furisosode."

"Uh ?"

The white-haired young woman proceeded to explain how the word 'kimono' only meant 'a thing to wear', and was adopted after the Meiji revolution when occidental culture crushed Japanese traditions so badly that they lost their own words for traditional clothing. Sesshōmaru, as a lord of the past, would never abide by it.

Fascinated, Gwen learnt that kimonos had many, many names depending on their design. After the feudal era, furisode – literally long sleeves – were reserved to unmarried women, but not at the time of Sesshōmaru's prime.

"We'll get one for you. You cannot be the great dog general's lady without a proper furisode."

"Why the long sleeves ?"

"It is traditional. And the question is more, why the short sleeves on married women?"

Towa knew exactly what carrot to agitate to get her mind rolling.

"OK, I'll bite."

"When a woman gets married, she cuts the sleeves of her kimono to make a trousseau for her children."

Gwen's cheeks flamed at the memory of her late-night conversation with Tōga, and a teenager butted in on her other side in Spanish.

"You're boring her with your old stuff, Auntie."

Towa made a face at her niece, and Gwen jumped to reassure her new friend.

"No, not at all. I am just glad you speak such good English because my Japanese is too rudimentary for all of this. I studied languages and cultures before I became a firefighter, you could keep me entertained for days and I'd forget to eat and sleep just to hear you."

Towa's large, curious eyes widened with glee.

"Then you really need to speak with 'Pa. No one wants to hear those old stories anymore. He is desperate for someone that wants to learn."