A/N: To my usual readers...I apologize. I intended to wait to post this new story. But with recent events I wanted a pick-me-up, and hearing from you all always does that for me. I need the distraction. My boyfriend of nearly 2 years has recently become very active in evangelism and such. We go to colleges a few hours apart. I found a ride for him, perfect for him to come and visit me. He refused on account of having to stay for church events. I now come second place. When we fought about this he eventually became so angry when I said I didn't want to talk about it anymore, he called me "Godless" and said the people around me were also "Godless" and that I was on an "emo tangent." I'm not in the least bit "emo" so that was laughable. But Godless?? I am most insulted, most wounded. So now I'm giving him the silent treatment. Supposedly he misses me a lot, but just couldn't get away from these things (seemed lame to me, I want him to honor his commitment to me too!) So he can have this weekend alone and I hope it hurts like a paper cut. Oh, that was mean. But yes, so to keep myself away from trying to talk to that ingrateful moron, I turned to you all and to FFnet. I hope this pleases you, tho I will likely not update it until after Runaway is finished.
Author's Note: this story continues a storyline/universe that I began in my fic So much For the Hanyou's Happy Ending, With Our Arms Wide Open, and Runaway. Naraku has been destroyed, Miroku and Sango married almost immediately afterward. Inuyasha and Kagome followed a few years after them, before the birth of their first child, son Koinu.
Hanyou are essentially hybrids. By definition hybrids in animals are mostly infertile. This has been a running theme throughout these stories, though it may not be featured as much in this one. For Inuyasha there is a catch, on the new moon he is human and fertile (So Much For the Hanyou's Happy Ending). Sesshomaru, as the lord of the Western Lands, encountered this problem when he took Rin as a mate. Their children would be unfit as heirs, unable to continue the line as infertile hanyou. So he took an inuyoukai behind Rin's back as a wife to produce his heirs (Runaway).
Miroku and Sango (In Runaway) have four children: Kohimu, Tisoki, Kasai, and Masuyo the baby. All boys but Kasai. Inuyasha and Kagome (Also in Runaway) had son Koinu and daughter Akisame. Shippo has grown and become partially independent, also he has an ability to jump, site-to-site, a sort of teleportation.
This story takes place about two decades after the fall of Naraku, and about ten years after the events of Runaway.
Disclaimer: Nope, I only own the children, and Sesshomaru's wife.
Prologue: And the Biggest Pervert is…
The salamander gave a wet, slurping roar, and charged toward Inuyasha. Its tail thrashed from side to side, sending massive, rippling waves through the scummy pond water. Inuyasha grunted and leaped clear of the creature's charge, into the branches of a tree. The braches dangled precariously over the pond and the hanyou realized swiftly that he was going to have to move from this perch. The salamander was at least twenty feet long and very angry to boot. If its tail could turn the pond into the upside down, muddy slurry that it had, it could certainly knock him out of the tree.
The massive salamander—a dark, ugly purple color, like an old bruise—lashed its thick, ridged tail at the base of the tree, hissing wetly.
Inuyasha jumped again, landing on the ground as the tail smashed into the tree trunk, halfway splintering it. The tree lurched and toppled, its branches touching the muddy pond water. The thing was so blind that it waddled forward to the braches and opened its rounded, gaping mouth to gnaw on the branches, hoping to get a mouthful of hanyou instead. Its fish-like black eyes had a dull, brainless shine.
Inuyasha paused several feet away, his face cast tightly in a frown. One clawed hand was at his waist, but it closed on nothing but air. He scowled even more deeply then. Of course he didn't have the sword. The whole point of this engagement had been for Koinu, his son, and for Kohimu, Tisoki, and Kasai too.
An arrow streaked over the pond, slamming into the salamander's side. It wheeled away from the tree and into the water, roaring with its thick, gurgling voice.
The arrow was from Kohimu, Miroku's firstborn son. The young man—he was almost seventeen—carried a massive bow and quiver of long, thick arrows over his shoulder. As the salamander raced for him, tracking the arrow, Kohimu hurried away on foot, deftly. He had the agility and athleticism of both parents. The arm he used for drawing the bow—his left because he was left-handed—was immense and bulky with muscle.
The salamander was too stupid and too blind to track Kohimu—he'd retreated too fast. It emerged from the muddy water, bubbling and gurgling with rage. It was bleeding heavily from one side where the arrow had penetrated it, but seemingly the creature was unaffected by the wound or the blood loss. It swung its broad, circular head over the pond's shore, searching and snuffling for a scent. It blinked its black eyes like a frog.
Kohimu had retreated into the brush to stand beside his younger brother, Tisoki. They worked together now, Kohimu holding one of his arrows and notching it, while Tisoki hefted a sickle with a chain on the end. Tisoki let the sickle fly and it caught the salamander in what amounted to his shoulder. The creature squealed and rolled, trying to get away. Tisoki, still holding the chain, let it slip through his fingers as the salamander rolled. Kohimu frowned at his side, trying to get an aim on the monster's head.
Miroku and Sango waited tensely just behind their sons, watching them with a mixture of nervousness and pride. This salamander had been troubling a nearby village for some time now, but only recently had the villagers gathered up enough money, food, and other valuable things to pay for the extermination. Miroku handled those details, setting a price as he deemed was proper.
In this case the villagers could've called them a lot sooner, whether they had the usual payment or not. The salamander had been destroying their farms, eating their animals, and in some cases, even the children and the elderly, anyone not able to outrun it during an attack at night, the time it favored for raiding the village.
In a fight years ago with this creature, Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku, and Kagome would've hardly batted an eye at the monster. They would've stepped back and let Inuyasha come forward, brandishing a hungry, transformed Tetsusaiga.
No longer, now they were throwing their children to the salamander, seeing how they would fare. So far Tisoki and Kohimu were proving themselves flawlessly. Miroku and Sango could beam proudly behind their two eldest children, assured that they had raised survivors and respectable demon slayers. Inuyasha cast a glance nervously to his far left where Kasai and Koinu were tensed and ready for battle. Then his ears flattened as he realized they weren't ready for battle.
They were bickering, as usual.
Kasai was the third born child of Miroku and Sango. Tisoki was fast approaching sixteen years old, and Kasai, born a little more than two years after him, was somewhere between thirteen and fourteen. Koinu, at her side, was precisely nine months younger, about thirteen. Looking at them, however, Inuyasha wouldn't have guessed it. Kasai had reached what would likely be her full height, while Koinu was still growing. He was shorter than her by an inch or two, much to his shame. Puberty had turned the two childhood friends, as close often as siblings, into outright rivals.
Normally Inuyasha found it amusing or annoying to see his son fighting with Kasai—because usually Koinu was peaceable and calm, much like his mother—but now it was disrupting their training and endangering their lives.
His ears laid flat with irritation.
The salamander splashed loudly into the water and the chain slipped from Tisoki's hands. The young man cursed and turned to his side, fumbling through the brush for his backup weapons.
Kohimu's brown eyes were narrowed, concentrating. He was very skilled with his bow, but the salamander was half-underwater and moving too rapidly for him to get a fix on it. He lowered the bow and, for the first time, his expression changed to one of uncertainty.
The salamander thrashed through the water and emerged on the other side of the pond. It was howling now, high and keening but with a deep gurgling just beneath that, as if it had pond muck stuck to its vocal cords. Blood poured from where the sickle had dug into its shoulder, leaving a wide, ugly gash in its cold blooded flesh.
It barreled in the opposite direction from Kohimu and Tisoki's combined attack…that happened to be where Kasai and Koinu were waiting, armed—but distracted by their petty bickering.
Inuyasha gritted his teeth and started moving even as he shouted a warning, "Koinu! Kasai! Move!"
A few moments previously…
Koinu watched his father leap to the tree and he tensed, holding the heavy Tetsusaiga in front of him, readied. He could feel the power inside the blade, but only dimly. Inuyasha had struggled to teach his son the basics of the sword in the last year or so, since Koinu had begun growing more rapidly and losing his baby fat—as his hormones changed his scent and announced that he was moving into puberty. Koinu had touched the Tetsusaiga before, but hadn't been able to transform it. To his father, transforming the blade was second nature, like breathing, like blinking. To Koinu it was new and frustrating, just like everything else that maturity, puberty, and all of those other words that described growing up entailed.
The salamander slammed his tail into the tree, but Inuyasha had already jumped clear of the damage. He landed some feet in front of them, tossing them a quick look of concern before he ran beyond them, trying to lose the salamander's attention.
Koinu watched his father admiringly for a moment, then found his eyes drawn back to the salamander and the pond. Kohimu's arrow struck the salamander, making it rush into the pond after him.
"Kohimu is a jerk." Kasai announced at his side in a huffy, irritable voice. "He hogs all the action with that bow."
Koinu shrugged his shoulders loosely. "He's good with it."
She sighed, rolling her eyes when Koinu turned to look back at her. "I could do it just as well if I were a man!"
"But you're not." Koinu stated the obvious, looking back at the fight again. The salamander was on the opposite side of the pond, snuffling, searching for Kohimu's scent.
"Ha!" Kasai shouted, jabbing a finger at Koinu. The dog-eared boy glanced back at her, cocking his head to one side as she started on her tirade. "Neither are you, Son of Dog."
Koinu scowled, ears flattening for a moment. "What's that supposed to mean? Of course I'm not human."
There was a strange, dark glint in Kasai's otherwise light, violet eyes. Koinu felt a slight twisting in his gut when he noticed it. Since Kasai had grown just that little bit taller than him, Koinu had noticed a significant change in her that both intrigued and intimidated him. She picked on him more, in fact she fought more with everyone around her. Her scent had changed—so had the shape of her body. Against his will, almost instinctually, Koinu found his eyes drawn to that changed body more and more.
The look in her eyes now made him tense. It was mischievousness, and…something else he couldn't read very well.
"That's not what I meant." She smirked, knowingly. "You're still a boy, you wouldn't understand."
He scowled openly, realizing that she was goading him, challenging him. Koinu wasn't completely naïve, he had a powerful sense of smell, and he'd listened to Shippo as well as Kohimu and especially Tisoki for years. Yet he wasn't one to expose what he knew, he was shy as both his parents had been of the subject when it related back to them, personally.
"Shows what you know." He grumbled, trying to turn his eyes back to the battle. Tisoki had thrown the sickle out and caught the salamander with it. Koinu felt a spurt of regret and relief at once, it appeared that he and Kasai wouldn't be involved in this fight. He had an image of himself trying to use Tetsusaiga and obliterating Miroku, Sango, Kohimu, and Tisoki right along with the salamander. He sighed and let Tetsusaiga shrink, sheathing it.
Something latched onto Koinu's lower back and then actually fell to his butt, squeezing.
Yelping, he jumped away, whirling to face Kasai with wide, almost terrified eyes. His mouth fell open, opening and closing on the air like a fish.
Kasai raised her hands in a defensive motion, her cheeks were bright pink. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she crossed her arms over her chest then and looked toward the sky. "There was a horsefly. They can bite through clothes you know." She was blushing down to her neck.
For one of the first times in his short life, Koinu felt rage bubbling up through him. Rage and something else he couldn't identify. Actually, many somethings he couldn't identify. Shock, confusion, and most of all, embarrassment. The emotions were foreign, powerful. His white dog ears shook, his blue eyes narrowed dangerously, mimicking his father unconsciously. Words came to his tongue and he blurted them without thought. "What the hell's the matter with you? Why would you do that?"
"To see the look on your face!" Kasai stammered, smiling and wringing her hands together nervously.
Koinu opened his mouth to shout the infamous single word that was most often repeated when describing Miroku's family, "Hent—"
He was never allowed to finish, for in that moment Inuyasha landed between them roughly, his face marred thickly by a scowl. He reached with one arm for Koinu, and with the other he snatched up Kasai. Koinu yelped and pulled away from his father, leaping away on his own legs, but Kasai allowed herself to be scooped up and carried away.
Mere microseconds later the salamander barreled right through where they'd been standing. Koinu watched the demon from just a short leap away before following Inuyasha to stand closer to Miroku and Sango. Kohimu and Tisoku raced forward, shouting at the salamander, trying to regain its attention.
"That was close!" Koinu announced, smiling broadly at the adults. He looked toward his father and began to thank him, but Inuyasha growled at him and pushed Kasai roughly at Miroku and Sango.
"You both almost got yourselves killed!" he snarled, ears flattening. "And what were you doing? Fucking talking!"
Koinu felt his face heat up, "Dad…"
It was a mistake speaking to Inuyasha directly. With his jaw squared and his lips pursed, the hanyou reached one clawed hand at Koinu and demanded, "Hand over the Tetsusaiga."
Koinu's ears drooped at once but he reached obediently to his belt and began fumbling with the ties. As he lifted the blade upward, free of his belt now, he started to apologize, "I'm s—"
But Inuyasha ignored him and took the sword gruffly, tying it to his belt without a word. He was so angry that Koinu could see his white ears shaking, quivering with the suppressed rage just underneath.
"Why weren't you watching the salamander?" Sango was asking Kasai, shaking her head in dismay.
Kasai laughed nervously, sounding very much like her father would've almost two decades previously. "I was just…sloppy, Mom. I'll be more vigilant next time, I promise."
When Sango continued eyeing her daughter doubtfully, Miroku cut in. "Sango, if Kasai says she'll be more careful next time, than she will be. She's alive, that's what's really important." He grinned proudly at Kasai and pulled her close, protective and affectionate at once.
Inuyasha glanced at the exchange, scowling for a moment before locking his gaze with Sango. They exchanged a long look of moderate disgust. Miroku was notoriously fond of Kasai because she was the only daughter in a brood of sons, and perhaps because she was his spitting image, but in female form.
Kohimu and Tisoki were shouting in the distance, excitedly. Working together they'd pinned the salamander and killed it. They called out to Sango, needing Hiraikotsu to sever the salamander's head. Together the group would take it to the village that the creature had terrorized for so long, to prove satisfactorily that they had gotten rid of the monster.
Sango broke away from the others, hefting Hiraikotsu high on her shoulders, and hurrying to meet her sons. Inuyasha turned to watch her go, warily. The salamander could potentially spring to life and attack them.
Koinu watched his father's broad red-clothed backsides, a sad expression growing there like weeds choking out bright, beautiful flowers. Though Inuyasha hadn't told him as much, Koinu knew he'd let his father down. He was too human; though he resembled his father closely in appearance, Koinu was very much Kagome's son. Akisame displayed more of the inuyoukai's classic traits, though she barely looked like Inuyasha at all.
I failed him…
Koinu lowered his eyes to the ground and stared at his toes fixatedly. His eyes were a little too moist.
To one side, sheltered beneath Miroku's arm, Kasai was staring at Koinu with her intelligent violet eyes, taking everything in.
The village was tiny, named Hitohage after the salamander that had terrorized its citizens for so long. The elder greeted Miroku and Sango happily, clapping his hands joyfully when he saw Kohimu and Tisoki hauling the salamander's head. The journey back to their respective homes would take some time so the elders of Hitohage offered the slayers free lodging for their services. Two rooms were offered, one for the adults, the other across the small, shabby courtyard for the children.
Inuyasha grumbled about the arrangements and eventually left Miroku and Sango the room to themselves. He would've claimed that it was to watch over Kohimu and Tisoki—to make sure they didn't wander off and get into trouble like their father would've at a similar age—but in reality it was because he didn't want to stay in the same room with the married couple.
A meal was served, though it was poor, with no meat in it and only stringy vegetables and a few scant noodles in a broth. The tea was surprisingly rich however, probably made fresh from the village's own personal crop.
As luck had it, Tisoki's maid was an older woman, old enough to almost be his grandmother. As a result, Tisoki spent most of his time throwing Inuyasha worried glances and trying to hit on the maid that was serving his older brother.
"My lady, please, may I be so lucky as to learn your name?"
Kohimu drained a small glass of sake, tipping the cup in such a way as to watch his brother's antics over the rim. The maid that had served him was still holding the pot filled with sake. She smiled shyly, covering her mouth with her free hand. She kept walking toward the door, however, apparently planning to ignore Tisoki's pleading.
"My lady! Please, it would grant me great pleasure to call on you!"
The eldest of the women serving them scowled, her face wrinkling like an old leather skin. She muttered under her breath and pushed the younger woman out the door when she tried to hesitate, perhaps about to answer Tisoki.
Tisoki's face fell when they left, closing the door behind them. He stared at the table dejectedly, watching the sake cup unblinkingly. There was no age limit on alcohol consumption in their time, even the young teens Kasai and Koinu could drink sake if they chose.
"It's like I've always told you." Kohimu announced smugly, "You're just too ugly, Tisoki." Kohimu and Tisoki both shared the warm, earthy brown eyes that they'd inherited from Sango, but Kohimu's hair was black while Tisoki's was brown. Their features were a mix between Miroku and Sango, one had the monk's jaw line, the other had more of Sango's nose. Kohimu was widely regarded as a handsome heartthrob in their village while Tisoki, still lanky and poorly proportioned, was not quite as fine an example of masculine beauty.
At his brother's criticism, Tisoki frowned and shot his brother a quick, challenging glare. "That's not what counts in the end with the ladies, idiot. It isn't about how this head looks."
Kohimu smirked all over again. "You don't have it there either."
Now at last Inuyasha reacted, raising his eyes from his food and frowning disgustedly. He wiped his mouth with one long red sleeve and glared sternly between the two teens. "Hey—none of that!"
"Thank you." Kasai groaned, rolling her eyes at her food. She was seated at Koinu's side, as she always was, but on this night she was beside Inuyasha while Koinu stayed at the far end, unusually aloof from the others. Kasai snuck quick glances at him for a time, biting her lip as her brothers began arguing with Inuyasha.
"Why aren't you eating, Koinu?" she asked him, quietly. There was genuine concern in her violet eyes.
Koinu had been staring off unfocusedly into the distance, in the general direction of his father, but when Kasai spoke to him he shook his head as if startled and blinked at her. His cheeks tinged instantly pink as he took her in. She was out of her armor, wearing a light gold kimono with a childish design of simple shapes and lines in white and purple. Her hair was long and black. She hadn't learned to tame it yet and it stood out a little wild from the battle with the salamander earlier.
Her lips interested Koinu, heart-shaped and full, like a rosebud about to open in bloom.
Embarrassedly, Koinu pushed his plate away. "I'm not hungry." He looked directly to Inuyasha, "Father, may I be excused?"
The hanyou was still arguing with Kohimu and Tisoki, but his son's voice drew him swiftly away. One ear turned toward Koinu while he was actually speaking to Kohimu, "…I don't care what your father says…" he cut himself off and faced Koinu, his golden eyes scrutinizing his son cursorily. "You should eat. What are you going to do anyway?"
Koinu's ears turned backward but he righted them quickly. "I'm not hungry, Father. I wanted to get some fresh air and a bath perhaps."
Inuyasha grunted, grabbing the bowl in front of him and slurping up more of the broth noisily before he responded. "I guess—a bath?" he shook his head, "Didn't you have one yesterday?"
"No, Father. That was two days ago." Koinu's face was flushing brightly red now. Kohimu and Tisoki had ceased their incessant bickering to be able to overhear Koinu's latest blunder with his father. The tension between father and son hadn't gone unnoticed during their trip.
"Fine." Inuyasha waved a hand dismissively. As Koinu started to rise, Inuyasha made a sound and put the bowl of food—out of which he'd begun to drink sloppily from yet again—down and gestured toward Koinu. "Here, take Tetsusaiga and practice." He lifted the sword from where he'd tucked it at his side beneath the table and lifted it for Koinu.
For a moment the pup paused, uncertain, then, with his jaw tightening, he nodded and took the sword, slipping out of the room and into the courtyard. In his absence the bickering began again until Kasai, who was left out of the argument, excused herself. Inuyasha let her go easily, telling her only to take a sword and to come back soon. He didn't question where she was going at all.
Kasai walked around the courtyard, squinting in the sun. As a child she'd inherited a few small, brown freckles on her cheeks. As she aged they were diminishing, but the color left her always appearing to glow healthily. Though she didn't know it, Kasai's freckles were a history left over by her long lost uncle, Kohaku. In one hand she held a blade called Burikko. Nearly a decade ago it had been given to her parents as a gift by Lady Rin—Sesshomaru's mate. In the years since Kasai's run-ins with Rin and Sesshomaru amounted to squat, but the blade had stayed with her for years.
A few village women spotted her and stared, almost rudely. Kasai was a beautiful girl, but her mannerisms and the sword made her completely foreign to them, and very intimidating. The village women went their way, Kasai walked on her elongated skinny legs—she hadn't grown into her height quite yet—searching for Koinu.
The ground shook beneath her bare sandaled feet, faintly. Kasai stopped, pausing as she concentrated on the feeling of the ground moving. Earthquake? Youkai? Or was it Koinu, wielding the Tetsusaiga? From the trees in the distance, echoing from them, Kasai heard a boy shouting in frustration, cursing.
She smiled, grinning widely. Yes, she had her answer: Koinu.
When she found him the boy was panting and wiping the sweat from his brow. He held Tetsusaiga leveled on the ground. The fang was transformed, but it seemed to shake while Koinu held it, as if reluctant to submit to the boy's control. It longed for its usual master, not for the boy's inexperienced hands.
"Hi." Kasai announced herself, though she suspected that Koinu could have heard her ages ago as she approached from the inn and the village. In an uneven swathe ahead of him lied a path of destruction, ripped up dirt, roots sticking out of the ground, puddles torn apart, trees uprooted in the distance. But the power of the sword weighed on Koinu heavily. His shoulders were hunched and they heaved as he breathed.
"What are you doing here?" he growled, sounding much like Inuyasha in that moment. He might've been his father in that instant if not for the different color of his hakama and haori. Koinu's were a light brown with a checkered design. Except for his clothing, he was Inuyasha's spitting image, only his blue eyes and his height differed.
"I was bored." She shrugged, moving closer and shifting Burikko out so that he could see it more clearly. When they'd been younger the couple had sparred with Burikko as a way of training. Kasai would face Koinu without unsheathing Burikko and Koinu would face her with a staff or with his own claws. "Wanna play?"
Koinu frowned, ears flattening. Tetsusaiga smoldered, abruptly changing, shrinking in Koinu's hands. The boy lifted the dull blade and sheathed it with a look of disgust. "I can't control it, Kasai."
"You're just a kid." She told him, speaking frankly but in a comforting tone.
His response surprised her. Koinu snarled at her, growling with almost alarming viciousness. "I am not just a kid!"
"Okay, fine." Kasai lifted her hands, still holding Burikko in one, defensively.
Koinu deflated as fast as he'd become enraged and turned his back on her, sighing heavily. He lifted Tetsusaiga in its sheath, gazing at it, concentrating. What he didn't know was that Kasai was also concentrating fiercely on something, but it wasn't Tetsusaiga.
Her free hand, not holding Burikko, flicked reflexively at her side. Unable to stop herself, she strode forward, reaching…
Koinu turned an ear at the last second and twisted around, snatching Kasai's hand in mid motion before it could latch onto him. Tetsusaiga dropped to the ground, clatteringly. Burikko followed it.
"Koinu, let go…"
"What were you doing?" Koinu asked her, suspiciously, narrowing his young blue eyes. He had not yet released her hand from his grasp.
Her nostrils flared, she blinked rapidly several times. Her face flushed. "I was…" she swallowed thickly, her violet eyes flicked over his face, taking in his features, so well known to her from their long shared childhood. "I don't know…"
"You don't know?" Koinu repeated, confusedly.
Kasai darted forward before his lips had stopped moving, touching the corner of his mouth with her nose, then her lips. Koinu jerked away and blinked at her, shocked. His face was young, the baby fat hadn't completely fallen away, his skin was unflawed, and there were no pimples, not even a speck of body hair— though Inuyasha was much the same way. Her behavior baffled him horribly, and yet Kasai didn't see horror or revulsion in his face.
"What…" Koinu was still searching her face helplessly. His ears were quivering as if he was cold.
Kasai ignored his words and moved in again, more aggressively this time. She closed her eyes and pressed her lips to his clumsily. Koinu stumbled a little and let go of her, as if about to flee—but he never got the chance before a loud, angry male voice cut through their adolescent fumbling.
"Koinu! Kasai!"
The youngsters separated at once, startled and blushing. Miroku was approaching them, his face uncharacteristically tight. As he drew closer, Koinu and Kasai identified real anger in the monk's usually calm, passive features and body language. He closed his eyes when he reached them and crossed his arms over his chest. "What, may I ask, is going on out here? Koinu—where's your father?"
"He sent me out here to practice with Tetsusaiga." The boy stammered, though he eyes were lowered shamefully.
Miroku was unimpressed. "And yet you have left your father's finest possession on the ground." He observed aloud, without mirth or sarcasm. He turned his attention to Kasai then and said only, "Daughter, come with me."
He turned his back on them and began to walk away. Kasai followed after obediently, without looking back.
Miroku left Kasai under Sango's care. By the look on her husband's face, Sango understood that something had happened to truly disturb her husband. She kept Kasai with her and occupied, though it was hard. Kasai acted as if she had committed some horrible wrong, she avoided meeting her mother's gaze, she said as little as possible.
Miroku crossed the courtyard and entered the room where his sons were staying with Inuyasha. The boys looked up with eager, open faces, expecting the suite of servant women to enter and a new host of flirting and bickering to begin as a result. Instead they found their father staring back at them and wearing an un-amused, unhappy glower on his face.
"Father." Tisoki spoke for the brothers, but both of them ducked in a bow, instantly trying to appease their father. If Miroku was in a bad mood then whatever was wrong, whatever trouble they'd caused, it must be bad.
Inuyasha chuckled roughly. "What happened to you, Miroku? Did Sango throw you out?"
This comment brought a frown from both brothers, immediately uncomfortable at the thought of their parents' intimacy. (A/N: As my former roommate once said, parents and sex can NOT be in the same sentence with each other. It's not a possibility.)
Miroku ignored the hanyou's comment. "Inuyasha. I must speak with you."
"Speak." Inuyasha ordered him, scowling.
"Privately." Miroku added, sighing exasperatedly.
Inuyasha made a sound of surprise in the back of his throat and then rose to his feet, following Miroku out into the courtyard. He slid the door shut behind him, throwing the brothers inside a last glance as he did so.
In the courtyard there was a small stone bench beneath a twisted pine tree. Miroku sat there, smoothing his robes and patiently waiting as Inuyasha joined him. In the distance both fathers spotted Koinu slinking back into the courtyard, carrying a sheathed Tetsusaiga in one hand and Burikko in the other.
Inuyasha stood beside Miroku and frowned as he saw his son. "Isn't that Kasai's sword?"
Miroku ignored him. "Inuyasha—there is a problem with Koinu."
The hanyou stiffened, twisting around to look at Miroku sternly. "What?" his face rippled with confusion.
"I have just come from stumbling on your son and Kasai…" Miroku stared straight ahead, pausing as he searched himself for a good word.
Inuyasha wasn't that patient. "Stumbling what?" he demanded, irritably. "Koinu's too short to hold Tetsusaiga, I know that. He tripped you?"
Miroku glanced heavenward, as if praying. He'd forgotten how dense Inuyasha was over the years. Things passed right beneath the hanyou's nose sometimes. Miroku had always thought on some level that Inuyasha chose to ignore romance or flirting, it just wasn't something he was interested in. Yet there was also a part of him that wondered if Inuyasha's youkai half made him unable to actually see unobvious—as in unspoken—romance.
"I discovered Koinu and Kasai kissing one another." He remarked as simply as he could.
Inuyasha blinked stupidly for a moment and then turned, looking over the courtyard, searching for Koinu. Koinu had vanished, probably rejoining Kohimu and Tisoki. At last he turned back to Miroku and frowned almost angrily. "Koinu is too young, Miroku…"
"I'm afraid you are mistaken, Inuyasha."
"The hell I am! If that's what you saw monk, it was something your daughter was doing, not Koinu." He crossed his arms over his chest, huffing disgustedly. "Your family is full of perverts anyway and you know it."
"Nevertheless," Miroku continued, sticking to his argument, "I saw them together, Inuyasha. We must take action."
"Action?" Inuyasha echoed, scowling. "What the hell are you talking about?"
Miroku gazed at him seriously and spoke slowly, as if educating a child. "Whoever is at fault, Inuyasha, we must watch over them carefully. They are too young—we must keep them separated."
Inuyasha shook his head, closing his eyes tightly and flattening his ears. "Miroku, you're insane!" he gestured wildly, "And you're a pervert too, are you sure you didn't imagine…what you said you saw…?" he stammered awkwardly, his cheeks coloring.
The monk's face twisted up with irritation, he was insulted by Inuyasha's none-too subtle insinuation that he didn't know what he was talking about. "I know what I saw, Inuyasha. You must understand—she is my only daughter." He paused, pursing his lips as he found a way to put it into perspective for the hanyou, "Imagine if this were Akisame and Tisoki…"
The hanyou growled immediately. "What the fuck Miroku? Aki don't enter into this!" he made a face, as if about to vomit at the very idea.
Akisame was Inuyasha's youngest child, his only daughter. Unlike Koinu she resembled Kagome more closely, except for her eyes which were Inuyasha's through and through. She also had a tendency to actually act more like their father than Koinu did. Currently she was probably at home, brooding because Inuyasha had left her home with Kagome. The real reason was, of course, because Akisame was only eleven and unable to transform Tetsusaiga. Her training wasn't complete enough, and Inuyasha wasn't willing to risk her hurting herself for a few more years.
"You understand then how I feel." Miroku explained, sighing heavily. The anger was beginning to leave him, replaced with melancholy. Kasai was his only daughter, his spitting image. He didn't want to consider that Koinu wasn't at fault for what he'd seen. What if Kasai, a girl had inherited his family curse of perversion? A girl that craved sex would only end up pregnant with a bastard child, disgracing herself and the family.
Miroku rubbed the once-cursed hand over his face, closing his eyes and hiding his upset—or so he hoped anyway—from Inuyasha. The hanyou, however, had a very acute sense of smell and caught scent of his distress easily.
"Oh come off it Miroku…" his ears drooped pathetically and he began to pace along the shadow of the tree they were deliberating under. "If you really feel it's necessary, we can start training them separately, no big deal. But Koinu thinks of your kids as family."
"It would not be a permanent arrangement." Miroku sighed, defeated. "Just for a few years, to let them grow out of it."
"Fine, that's that then." Inuyasha grunted, turning his back on Miroku to stare at the inn, at the sliding doors that lead into the room where Kohimu, Tisoki, and probably Koinu were waiting. "I'll take Koinu home then."
Behind him Miroku's face flashed a quick expression of alarm. "Now? Inuyasha, I didn't mean—"
"Yes now, monk." He growled. "This is how you wanted it, remember?" Stiffly he stalked off, a silent snarl covering his face. Miroku watched him go, too stunned to shout out and stop his long-time friend from storming off.
Moments later Inuyasha stepped back into the room where he'd left Kohimu and Tisoki. Their voices were raised in an argument, which was no surprise to the hanyou. The only difference now was that Koinu had joined them, sitting at the far end silently, his eyes lowered to the matting unseeingly. A sword sat on either side of the youngster, Tetsuaiga on one side, Burikko on the other.
"Koinu." Inuyasha barked his son's name.
The boy looked up, his blue eyes wide and alert. "Father?" he half-choked on the word.
Kohimu and Tisoki quieted their argument, catching the change inside the room, the underlying conflict that had nothing to do with their own bickering.
"Come with me, we're leaving. Give me Tetsusaiga."
Koinu got to his feet, but midway up he tripped over his hakama and stumbled, almost sprawling over the tatami matting. Kohimu and Tisoki covered their mouths, laughing behind them. Koinu regained his balance but kept his eyes downcast, his face was bright red, as red as his father's haori. He lifted Tetsusaiga wordlessly.
Inuyasha took the sword gently, his eyes softening but his lips and jaw clenched tightly. "Kohimu, Tisoki." He addressed the snickering teenagers, making them come to attention though their chests and shoulders were still heaving from their laughter. "You'll make sure that Kasai gets Burikko, won't you?"
They both nodded but it was Tisoki that answered. "Yep, of course Uncle Inuyasha."
Inuyasha nodded, "Tell your mom I said goodbye—and excellent job today boys."
Kohimu took this praise, beaming. "Yes, we will. Thank you."
The hanyou left the room, with Koinu following dejectedly behind him, wanting frantically to speak but deciding against it. He nearly ran into Inuyasha's backsides when his father stopped abruptly. When Koinu looked up, startled, he saw that Miroku was standing before them. Horrified, the boy looked back down to the earth again. The grass was lush here, comforting and cool on his feet. He wished he could roll in it to relieve the heat on his face.
"Inuyasha." Miroku greeted him, stammering, "I didn't mean—"
"I'll see you later, Miroku." Inuyasha half-growled at the monk, then pushed roughly past him. Koinu followed fast on his father's heels, his ears flattened against his skull.
Father and son started on the road, leaving the inn and the village of Hitohage fast behind them. After a few minutes of silence, Inuyasha at last heaved a long, thick sigh that ended in a bitter growl. Koinu watched his father's backsides concernedly, waiting patiently for him to speak if he would.
"That damned monk." Was the answer he finally got, and a few other mumbled curses. At last he halfway peered over his shoulder and called to Koinu, "Don't ever let Miroku accuse you of anything—he doesn't have any idea what the hell he's talking about. Got that, Koinu?"
Koinu frowned, glad that his father couldn't see his face, because if he could he would know that Koinu most certainly didn't understand. Yet nonetheless his son replied at once with, "Yes, Father."
More than two years would pass before Koinu saw Kasai again, and nothing would be the same.
A/N: And that was the whole long prologue of my new continuation of the Hanyou universe. I hope my normal readers enjoyed that, even though it wasn't I Miss You or Runaway. Maybe this thing will even let me add a preview since I have more chaps written up for it...
"No fucking way!" he snarled, ears turning backward. "She is not fucking old enough!"
Kagome blinked, startled at Inuyasha's outburst. "Inuyasha…she's older than I was."
"No! She's like fucking nine!" he shook his head frantically, as if he could turn back time by denying the facts, if only he could find enough passion to do it with.
That's all for now folks!