Dark grey clouds swirled over head as a woman with long platinum blonde hair stumbled through the woods, her skin was pale as blood trickled from her lips. On her face two graceful stripes on each cheek and a matching purple crescent moon on her forehead, her clawed hands gripped a shaking child close to her. Her golden eyes weakly smiled down at the young boy in her arms gripping her deep red kimono, his three year old hands balled into fists as he whimpered. The woman cooed soothingly to her child as she stopped for a moment and looked behind her, her sensitive nose picked up the scent of blood that made her eyes well up with tears. She had been told to flee from the territory she called home by her Mate as he tried to protect her and their child. A crash of thunder made her pup whimper and curl closer to her, his red tipped platinum blonde hair hiding his face. Brushing the hair from his face allowed her to see her pup's tanned skin, graced with three long yet elegant black stripes on his cheek.
With a whimpering sigh the pup looked up at her with his bright blue eyes, the slits were wide enough to make his eyes look human, but the purple crescent on his forehead made her smile. The pup was nearly the spitting image of his sire, save for the crescent moon and his long platinum hair. She buried her nose in his hair and sighed before pulling back, he had a warm scent like the first summer evening. When a second crash of thunder echoed in the sky the pup hide his face into her chest once more as she began to run. Her elven ears had picked up the sound of people nearing her location; though her pup looked to be three years old he was born 6 years ago and was old enough to run and speak if he wanted to. He had been born during the time of Shinobi, years before the full return of Yokai. When the DaiYokai Clans were rebuilt and flourishing the way of Shinobi soon gave way to the Taijiya once again, it began in Konohagakure then spread to the other hidden villages.
"Natsukaoru." She murmured to her pup.
Her young pup looked up at her with tear filled blue eyes that made her own begin to water, she know that her pup knew the fate of his sire. She hugged him close to her before he was set down on the ground, Natsukaoru whimpered and reached up for her. He didn't know where they were but he had a bad feeling that his mother was going to leave him. The Inu Yokai looked down at her pup with a sad frown, with one final hug she turned and ran in the direction they had been running from. Natsukaoru gasped covering his mouth with his hands at the sight of her back; her back had been full of needles and cuts. With a whimper he shook his head and ran the other way, his teary eyes made his vision blurry before hear a loud roar. Looking behind him he could see a giant Inu, her platinum blond fur bristled out as her tail was raised in a defensive posture. He remembered that his sire's animal form was the last thing that he had seen, a larger Yokai than his mother. His sire was a large nine tailed Kitsune, a rich nearly red brown with black markings around his ruby red eyes. In his human form he had tanned skin with three thin black markings on each cheek and long rich red hair, much like Natsukaoru his black stripes ran down his whole body. Hearing another roar made the pup run faster than he never had before, his little legs carrying him as if he was a grown man.
The sky above him darkened as lightening cracked over-head making him cry out in fear, he never liked thunderstorms and being without his parents made his fear even worse. Running faster than he ever had, his feet brought Natsukaoru to the outskirts of an unnamed village. He could tell by the scent that it was far from Konohagakure, there was no scent of DaiYokai blood in the area. It must have been such a strange sight to see a young boy in wearing bloodied formal clothes walking from the woods; he didn't like how the children nearby gave him angry looks. Natsukaoru ran his clawed fingers through his hair then shook it out, out of the corner of his eye he could see an older boy walk up to him. The boy looked chubby as his gut could be seen trying to push up his shirt, his arms and legs seemed to be a little too big for the rest of his clothes. The young Yokai let his eyes close half-way as if he wasn't paying attention to the chubby ningen, the sight of red behind the children made him raise a brow. He tilted his head to the side as he watch a boy with silver hair struggle to get up as the wind blew his way, on it was the scent of a Hanyou. The scent in the air made the boy in red Natsukaoru's current interest as the chubby boy closed in, his heavy breathing made him hard to ignore as he stood in Natsukaoru's line of sight. The boy crossed his arms and glared trying to catch his breath, the rise and fall of his chest rapid as he stood still.
"Who are you?" The chubby boy finally asked.
Natsukaoru turned to the boy with disinterest. He had never really cared much for young ningen; they were bratty and had little manners.
"This one's name is not for you to know." Natsukaoru stated in a cold voice.
The other kids stood up in unusual interest as he spoke, the chubby boy huffed and walked to him slowly.
"It is if you want to enter our village." The boy smirked, "We don't like outsiders or freaks, but there's one freak that lives here."
With a chuckled the kids moved away from the now sniffling boy in red. His hair was long and silver as two ears sat perched on the top of his head, they looked almost like cat ears. One of the younger boys kicked the sniffling child as he whimpered, his gold eyes widened in pain as he coughed on the ground. The display was not pleasing to Natsukaoru as he let his eyes close; the scent of the Hanyou was indeed coming from the boy in the red kimono. With a sudden opening of his eyes Natsukaoru had used his superior speed to run to the child, he stopped in front of the boy to see his ears lay flat against his head. The other children yelped and stepped back from the displeased look on the young Yokai's face as his blue eyes narrowed, he raised his hand as a thin red light lazily shimmered around his claws. The children only blinked before Natsukaoru flicked his hand, the light traveled from his hand over the cheek of the chubby boy making him cry out as the thin red line soon turned into an angry burn. Falling back the boy cried as he rolled around on the ground, the others ran to help him up, as they did Natsukaoru took his time to turn around and look over the Hanyou. Even though he was curled up to where his face could be seen the pup reeked of fear, kneeling down to make himself look the same size the DaiYokai pup carefully ran a hand through the Hanyou pup's hair making him yelp and sit up. The action was cute making Natsukaoru faintly smile before standing up; the Hanyou looked up at him before slowly getting to his own feet.
"Are you here to pick on me too?" The Hanyou snapped before he flinched.
Natsukaoru's hand had curiously reached up to rub the soft ears on top of the Hanyou's head, the pup blushed under the rubbing before he got mad and tried to move the hand.
"Hey! Hey! Don't touch those." The boy blushed and pouted, "Why aren't you hitting me?" He asked with a sad frown.
Natsukaoru withdrew his hand having sated his curiosity then tilted his head to the left, curious as to why the Hanyou was asking why he had not been hit by the DaiYokai pup. Looking over the Hanyou told Natsukaoru that the villagers did not enjoy having a Hanyou among them, an Inu Hanyou no less. But being half Inu Yokai himself made Natsukaoru want to protect the pup, being the strongest DaiYokai within the village awoke the dominance in the young pup. Naturally dominate even as a pup Natsukaoru would be beta to the strongest DaiYokai of a territory but seek to dominate everything under him, often being servants of his sire and mother.
"This Natsukaoru does not seek to harm another Inu." He said to the Hanyou, making those cat-like ears perk up.
"Your name is Natsukaoru?" The Hanyou asked before smiling, "I'm Inuyasha, are you a Hanyou too?"
Natsukaoru thought for a moment before he nodded but then shook his head; Inuyasha frowned tilting his head to the side. His big golden eyes were a very beautiful part of the Hanyou; Natsukaoru would enjoy his stay in village as long as the Hanyou pup was around.
"My mother and sire were of two different races." Natsukaoru said with a faintly warm tone, "Kaa-Sama was an Inu DaiYokai, but Oto-Sama was a Kitsune." He said as Inuyasha slowly nodded before speaking again.
"You're parents weren't both Inu or Kitsune?" Inuyasha asked; Natsukaoru nodded.
Inuyasha's ears flicked in thought, he wasn't sure if he should ask such a personal question of his newfound friend. As Inuyasha remained lost in thought Natsukaoru took the chance to get a better look at the Hanyou. His skin was a natural soft tan that brought out his snowy white hair and golden eyes, his ears made him look cute for a Hanyou. His mother and sire would often tell him of how some Hanyou can be disgusting to look at, but Inuyasha was beautiful to him. Ever since he was three Natsukaoru knew that he preferred male Yokai to females, he found them to be petty and hard to please. Males were more understanding; they didn't require to be spoiled rotten but were lavish in their own ways. Females wanted things that sparkled and could be shown off, many males preferred things that felt comfortable and could be silently enjoyed. Inuyasha had finally took notice of the DaiYokai's staring and blushed before shaking the pup in front of him, when Natsukaoru gave his head a faint shake before he blushed faintly.
"Are you okay? You've been quiet." Inuyasha said, Natsukaoru nodded before he looked around.
The village was small but it would be a safe place for the pups, Natsukaoru had no doubt that Inuyasha's mother was somewhere within the village. Inuyasha let his ear flick before he turned around and started to run somewhere, Natsukaoru ran after him. He was not about to let the little Hanyou run free with humans around who seemed to hate him. The Hanyou was shocked to see Natsukaoru following him in the village, the villagers seemed to be scared of the young pup as his hair flowed behind him. The wet ground made a slapping sound under their feet as the pups ran, the thunder and lightning didn't seem so scary the Natsukaoru now that he had something to focus on. The rain was soft compared to the thunder, the lightning seemed make Natsukaoru's hair and eyes glow as he chased Inuyasha. The Hanyou stopped at a large hut, the looked finer than the ones around it making the DaiYokai pup curious as to who lived there. The door to the hut opened to show a beautiful ningen with long black hair and brown eyes, her skin was pale yet she was dressed in a royal kimono. She looked at Inuyasha with a smile before he turned to see that his friend had followed him home, he blushed looking back to the woman.
"Kaa-san, can he come in?" He asked the woman who offered Natsukaoru a faint smile.
"Of course Inuyasha, wipe your feet before coming in please, I've just finished cleaning." The woman said softly.
Natsukaoru was very quiet about entering Inuyasha's home; his parents had raised him to be humble and to listen well to his host. After wiping his feet he looked around the hut. The woman seemed to be very pleased that her son had managed to at least make a friend, though she had never seen the young boy before. His clothes looked covered in blood in some places and torn in others, but the one question that she couldn't answer was where had the boy come from. Inuyasha happily showed Natsukaoru around his home before he noticed that his friend had on a rather stoic look. Pouting Inuyasha waved his hand in front of the other pup's face before it was grabbed in a soft yet firm hold.
"This Natsukaoru is still listening, Inuyasha." The stoic pup said; Inuyasha blushed.
Inuyasha's mother watched the two with a soft smile; it had been the first time that she had seen her young pup so happy. She had hoped that the strange pup would be able to get her son to open more. The future was unknown yet, there was so much that could happen yet she remained hopeful.