Understanding
…
Hunt
Inutaisho is utterly disgusted by the cacophony of foul smells that assault his nose in this immense human settlement, but he has enough skill to be able to ignore those scents which do not interest him. Currently he is following the trail of a Kourime, one still a vulnerable child and without an adult youkai of any species protecting her. Such a situation is unacceptable to the Dog General: Ice Maidens for all their dislike of outsiders are very protective of their young so she is probably an orphan, alone without anyone to guide and raise her. Not to mention the little girl is probably not only completely ignorant of her people's customs, rituals and social practices but of youkai society in general.
Wait
He finds the Kourime sitting on a park bench at noon, apparently waiting for someone. Inutaisho observes her from a distance, keeping his own energies completely contained so as not to alert her to his presence. He does not want to frighten the child off by accident: elemental apparitions may reach adult size during their first century, but puberty does not occur until they reach their hundredth year and full maturity is not reached until another century after that. Though the female he is shadowing appears to be around the human age of fourteen, mentally and emotionally she is roughly on par with a human seven-year-old.
The Dog General also wants to gain a better understanding of her situation before he interferes.
Anger
It turns out that the individual the Ice Maiden is waiting on is a tall, orange-haired human male, one whose scent betrays dishonourable intentions towards her. As he watches the Dog General finds his fury mounting; only the truly foul and depraved would so much as consider stooping to physically desiring and seducing a child. His eyes red with barely-contained wrath, Inutaisho seizes the Kourime from the disgusting mortal's grasp and teleports with her directly to the Higurashi Shrine.
The child is initially frightened by him, but he reaches out to her gently with his youki and she soon ceases to struggle, reassured that he wants nothing save her own safety and wellbeing. He also reveals to her the impure intentions of the male who she had been with, which confuse her –she is truly an innocent still– but she agrees to stay away from the man she had believed to be a friend. She can now sense the full magnitude of his power and her nature as a Kourime will make her submissive to his commands so long as he treats her with the respect she is due both as a youkai and a female.
Propriety
His wife's mother soon notices their presence on the grounds and, after the daiyoukai has explained the child's circumstances and the situation he rescued her from, is perfectly willing to offer the young apparition sanctuary within the Shrine. Inutaisho reassures the girl that here she will be safe from any that seek to exploit her and issues a full, formal offer of protection, which is shyly accepted.
His new ward's name is Yukina and she is eighty-four years old; over a decade and a half shy of puberty. Privately swearing terrible retribution upon the mortal male who sought to defile an innocent child, Inutaisho gravely welcomes her into the House of the West and gently marks her youki with his own in the required manner. He then spends several hours coaxing her life story out of her, telling her about his beloved mate, odd mortal and youkai customs and other, more trivial things, all of which slowly draw her out of her shell until she is giggling and snuggling up to him like a small child should.
She is much more at ease by mid-afternoon, so he turns her care over to his mother-in-law and returns to Kaiden to collect his wife from school. Kagome will need to properly fortify the Shrine's spiritual defences so that those of impure intent cannot enter the grounds.
I always found Kuwabara's crush on Yukina profoundly creepy considering the manga makes it quite clear she and Hiei haven't even hit puberty yet. Plus everyone just goes along with it! Hiei obviously doesn't know any better -he's a child too for all he's a hardened killer- but Genkai certainly should have put a stop to it.
