Disclaimer: Characters are Ms Takahashi's.
"Totosai. Wake up old man and tell me about what my sons are doing."
It was going to be one of those days again, I just knew it. Of all the indignities that had been heaped upon me in my life this had to rate up there with the best of them. Please don't get me wrong though, I had been so very honored when my Lord had asked me to do my best to watch over his sons, the elder full demon and the younger half.
It was just that I'd had no idea what a pain in the rump it would prove to be. Yet I could no more refuse the call of his voice now than I could have while he yet walked the mortal realm as arguably the most powerful Inu-youkai ever to exsist. Every time he returned, it was almost as if he had never left. Well, except for that whole see-through thing which even I found to be a bit creepy.
Whoops, there's that annoyed tone again, I must have let my thoughts wander off as I sat idly scratching a cheek as if that would make me seem more erudite while I rolled my rather fine eyes at him. They are my best feature of course, my eyes. I let my attention go back to my Lord once more and held up a restraining hand just before I felt he'd lose patience and wallop me. Rash Inu-blooded demons … oh yes.
"Well, if you had been here just a bit ago you could have seen your youngest brat in person."
Not that I didn't think they weren't both brats, its just that Sesshoumaru was far more scary despite his tendency to covet what wasn't his even when he didn't need it in the first place. I really couldn't deep down fault him for wanting it, Tessaiga was after all the best thing I ever forged … that I gave away.
Hey, even cranky old blacksmiths have secrets you know. But I didn't hide the relish in which I related my tale of how InuYasha came for more training and wound up hauling my bathwater instead. You can't blame an old guy for wanting a bath now and then can you? I watch my Lord as he tries to hide his own mirth at the rather accurate impression I do of his youngest hot head of a son, but I can see it even in the echoes of gold that are his eyes now.
"I wish I could have seen that myself. Of all the things he needs to learn, patience is at the top of the list."
Out of near morbid curiosity I can't stop myself from asking just what he thought that Sesshoumaru needed to learn most. I feel almost bad at the fleeting expression of regret and longing that crosses my Lord's shadowy face then, and for a moment or two I think he just might refuse to answer me. Then there is that singular voice again, and it holds all its former power, reminding me just what sits before me, despite his lack of a fleshly body.
"Tolerance, Totosai old man. That is at the top of Sesshoumaru's list, and it is the one thing he will need to learn to achieve true power. He has the potential to be even stronger that I was … if only he could find his heart and discover that protecting something is not a weakness."
My jaw dropped. Was he serious? Sesshoumaru protecting someone other than himself? I might have laughed if that regret still hadn't shadowed my Lord's face and something in my mind clicked. He was right. Why even now his elder son could not use the full potential of his heirloom sword Tenseiga because he did not truly understand the worth of what he carried and the place in his heart that would have to soften for him to come to the realization was hard as stone.
There was a heartbeat of silence and I wondered then if he was done for this visit and I could go back to my well-deserved nap. But then that voice came in its resonance and drew me in once more. This was going to be a long day.
"Tell me then of the last you saw of him?"
As if I could ever reject such a simple request. This was after all my Lord and while I would most likely never admit it to him, I might have become very lonely without his company.
