Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha


Ancient eyes blinked blearily as the old tree was pulled from his slumber. Groaning and shifting his branches woodenly, Bokensou peered around his dell, looking for the source of his wakefulness.

Soon, he spotted a proud little dog demon sat in his roots with a bokken lying across his hakama-clad knees. Around a hundred summers, he was barely a metre tall, but carried himself taller; the stubborn tilt of his chin was both proud and tremulous.

"Touga-sama," he called out to the pup in his rusty yet warm voice, "to what do I owe the pleasure."

Top-knot swishing, the boy turned his head to look at the great tree, blue markings prominent in his sun-darkened face. "Keh."

"As communicative as ever," the tree needled.

"Father said I am too young," the pup eventually admitted, after a time of long silence only interspersed with the rustling of Bokensou's leaves.

The tree chuckled gustily. "And I am too old."

"If I were as old as you, I'd be allowed to use a real sword!" the pup protested.

"If you were as old as I, you would have to use it as a walking stick," Bokensou opined wryly.

Ignoring the quip, Touga ploughed on. "I am best at using the bokken, I could use a katana!"

"Impatience will not improve your skills, little one."

"I am not little!" the proud demon snapped, jumping to his feet.

"You are, however, hasty," the demon tree offered his wisdom, "your father was four hundred before he was permitted to touch a katana."

"Really?" Touga paused, blinking thoughtfully.

"Truly, he was three hundred before he reached your level with the bokken."

"Oh." Touga pondered this for a moment and then grinned exposing a tiny fang. "That is fair."

Bokensou chuckled, "I'm glad you think so."


A/N: This was originally written for iy_unsung_heros prompt Wisdom and was first posted on October 11th 2010. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this enough to offer a review!