Myoga, scared senseless by the hanyo's tone, shivered slightly.
"Why, Master InuYasha, must I have a reason to see you?"
"Are you telling me you don't have a reason?" the hanyo growled menacingly, squeezing the flea with a deadly look in his golden eyes.
"No! I mean, yes!" the flea managed to squeak out, "I came here to warn you of impending danger!"
InuYasha automatically released his tight hold on the flea, his eyes filled with a worried curiosity.
"What danger?" Koyasha asked as she jumped on her father's back so she could have a look at the demon
Myoga didn't seem to notice her, "Master InuYasha, I must warn you of that boy."
InuYasha's brow furrowed, mild anger seeping into his eyes, "You trying to say there's something wrong with my kid?!"
"No, Master InuYasha! I just mean to say that you need to be careful." The flea said quickly, "His aura is strange, Master InuYasha, and I would be wary around him. His aura is... powerful. Very powerful. And there's something not right about that much power in a little boy...""
Rikuse's eyes widened. He was... dangerous?
InuYasha's anger was obvious as he opened his palm up to allow the flea demon to stand, "There's nothing wrong with my boy, you senile old flea!" Then, abruptly, he flicked the flea away.
But to Rikuse the flea's words seemed to make too much sense.
"...Father..." the boy started, "Father, I think he's right."
InuYasha, slightly surprised at the boy addressing him as father, turned to face the boy as Koyasha slid off his back.
"There's nothing wrong with you, kid," he assured, "Myoga is a senile old bastard. He wouldn't come near if you were actually as powerful as he said. He's too much of a coward to risk it."
"Yeah!" Koyasha said, tackling her brother to the ground, "There's nothing wrong with you! Actually, you're probably the normal one in the family!"
Kagome, laughing slightly at the truth in her daughter's words, stood up and removed Koyasha from her spot on top of her brother, kneeling beside her son as he sat up.
"I promise you, Rikuse, there's nothing wrong with you." She said kindly, cupping his cheek in her hand, "You're fine."
Rikuse's eyes strayed from his mother, "But... but Sesshomaru-sama has a scar on his arm..."
"What does that have to do with you, darling?"
"He told me I caused it when I was young on the night of the half moon. But he won't tell me how it happened or what I did..."
InuYasha's ears perked, "You hurt Sesshomaru? No kidding?"
"That is what I was told." Rikuse said, a bit ashamed.
InuYasha responded with a laugh, "Whether you did or not, good job!"
Kagome, not in full belief of her son's story, gathered him up into her arms as she stood.
"C'mon you two," she said to Koyasha and Rikuse, "We should go sit with the others and play outside before I send you off bed."
--
After a spirited game of tag that Koyasha shared with Sango's and Miroku's children and the calm fireside talk Rikuse participated in with the adults, Kagome had sent them off to bed as the moon climbed up into the higher points in the side. And soon after that the adults had retired to their beds as well, the night calm and peaceful. InuYasha had cuddled close to Kagome, who held her daughter and son to her chest. But over time Rikuse had wriggled his way out of his mother's embrace, lying not far from his sleeping family. His rest was undisturbed for the night, wisps of clouds hiding the moon's rays to cast the world in dark.
The stillness of the night's air was broken as a melody floated on the air, rousing Rikuse from his sleep. Beside him his father only seemed slightly annoyed by the sound, but the older hanyo did not wake. Koyasha was completely unaffected by the sound, but it started to grate on the young boy's mind. And as the breeze blew lightly against the boy's face, Rikuse stood without much thought. The melody wove into his thoughts, entrancing him entirely. And soon Rikuse was following the sound, walking out of the house and it's meadow to weave through the forest's trees to find whatever was making the music. Yet he was doing so with little thought. All he knew was that he had to follow... he just had to follow the sound. It called to him. I pulled at him in ways he couldn't imagine.
"Oh."
He stopped walking then, his blank eyes turning towards the voice as the melody dropped from the air. There was a black haired woman in front of him, a flute held in a ready position just below her mouth. Her brown eyes were staring down at him, inspecting him as much as she could in the dark of the night.
"Are you InuYasha's child?"
Rikuse nodded, "I guess so."
"Well..." She seemed thoughtful and a bit disappointed, "...I guess you'll do."
A raven that Rikuse hadn't noticed hopped up on the woman's lap, opening its beak as if it were expecting her to give it something. Gracefully, the woman reached out to Rikuse, grabbing his wrist to pull him closer to her. She set down her flute, her other hand still held fast on the boy as she took hold of a lock of his hair. And in one swift pull she tore out a good number of strands from his scalp, releasing him immediately after. Using her free hand she reached into the folds of her kimono, withdrawing with a folded white cloth in her hand. Unfolding it, she laid it flat in her palm, carefully dropping the boy's hairs onto the white surface. Once again she folded it, this time placing the folded parcel in the raven's mouth, the animal immediately taking flight with his package in his possession.
Then she turned and stood, walking away, once again playing her flute in unresisting tunes. Rikuse wasn't sure what to do as he watched her leave, but she soon paused, turning to look at him over her shoulder.
"C'mon," she said smoothly, "Follow."
Koyasha yawned, stretching. Unfortunately, her fist collided with her father's nose when she stretched it out, waking the hanyo from his sleep quite rudely as he grabbed at his nose.
"What the hell, kid?!" he muttered angrily, glaring at his daughter.
Koyasha just laughed in response as her arms fell into her lap, her bright smile dissipating InuYasha's anger. A bit annoyed that the child could so quickly tame his anger, the hanyo stood, muttering under his breath. His eyes turned to the bright morning sun, a part of him thankful that his daughter hadn't woken him up sooner.
"Uhh... Daddy?"
"Yeah? What do you want?" InuYasha replied, his gaze focusing back down on his daughter.
"Where... Where's Rikuse?"
InuYasha looked around warily then, his eyes searching for his son.
Crap... InuYasha thought, his senses flaring to alert when he couldn't find his son in the vicinity ...Where the hell is he?...
"He probably just went to go take a shit or something, kid." InuYasha lied, his eyes still searching the area and his nose trying to track down the scent, "Don't worry about it."
"InuYasha..." Kagome mumbled, causing InuYasha to look her way, "...Sit boy."
Plummeting face first into the ground as he caught a glimpse of Kagome sitting up, the hanyo cursed the woman, unintentionally eating a mouthful of dirt.
"Please, dear," Kagome said to the grounded hanyo, "Don't curse so early in the morning."
"Mama!" Koyasha said, jumping into her mother's lap, "Mommy, we can't find Rikuse!"
Kagome looked down at her daughter with a confused stare, "What do you mean you can't find him?"
"He's not here!"
Kagome's eyes immediately shot back to InuYasha, whom was now lying on his back, his eyes closed.
"Don't worry about it, Kagome," InuYasha said, taking a deep breath, "He probably just went to go take a bath or something."
Kagome, slightly angered with InuYasha's lack of care in the situation, turned to her daughter.
"Koyasha, dear, can you smell him?"
Koyasha turned her nose to the air, "Uhh..." Her eyes widened then, her nose sniffing the air in a somewhat frantic motion, "…No!"
Kagome didn't react automatically, but InuYasha was sitting up automatically, sniffing at the air as well. He tried to follow the faint trail his daughter's nose was to weak to pick up, but the moment he got about fifteen feet into the surrounding forest, he stopped dead in his tracks.
No…
He dropped down to the ground, almost shoving his nose into the dirt. But he couldn't evade the facts. She had been there and she had taken him.
"…No…" his voice was a whisper as he slowly got to his feet, his eyes filled with a strange, distant look.
Fuck… No…
"InuYasha!" his name was called in shrill tones, making him follow them out of instinct rather than his own choice.
Seconds later he was back inside his friend's house, kneeling beside Kagome. She was staring in shock down at a sword impaled raven, a white cloth clutched in her hand so tight her knuckles were turning colors.
"Kagome…"
"Did you find him?" she asked with shaking tones, her body beginning to shake.
"…No." he said with a sigh, realizing this was probably the worst thing he'd ever have to say in his life.
I lost my son…
"Kagome," Amaya said, releasing her hold on the hilt of the sword she'd stabbed the bird with to take hold of Kagome's hand, prying her fingers off of the cloth, "Kagome, there's something inside of that. Maybe it will tell us where Rikuse is."
When the teen had hold of the cloth she unfolded it quickly, taking a place to kneel in front of both hanyo and miko. She cocked her head to the side slightly, staring down at the few strands of hair lying in the folds.
"It's… hair…?" she muttered under her breath, taking one of the strands in her hair.
"Hand it over." InuYasha commanded, slightly annoyed at her tendency to state the obvious.
Taking the hairs in his hand, he held them up to his nose, sniffing cautiously.
Fuck.
"It's Rikuse's hair."
Kagome started sobbing then, throwing herself into InuYasha's arms. Koyasha just stood idly by, her hand clinging to Amaya's shoulder.
Suddenly Amaya was up, pulling her sword out of the bird and jumping to the side with Koyasha in her arms, a blur of white passing by at air slicing speeds where the two had just been. In an instant InuYasha was torn from Kagome, slammed against the wall with wood splintering impact.
"You ingrate," Sesshomaru breathed in an unsettlingly calm manner, controlled and passive anger flashing through his golden eyes, "You worthless, filthy, vermin!" In a blink of an eye InuYasha was on the ground, Sesshomaru's foot crushing into his chest, "Are you incapable of protecting a five year old, InuYasha? Have you failed to protect your own family? Be the hanyo you are, baby brother, and crawl on the ground!" Sesshomaru kicked InuYasha like a dog then, sending him flying out of the house and colliding into the trees of the surrounding forest, the unfortunate tree that InuYasha flew into shattering with impact. In seconds Sesshomaru was over him again, his foot threatening to crush InuYasha's throat. Seconds later the yokai had flipped the hanyo onto his stomach, his foot crushing the back of the boy's skull into the ground, "A hanyo should act like a hanyo…" his voice was still calm with passive anger, his actions fully controlled with inhuman skill, "And lick the ground!"
"Sesshomaru!" Kagome's voice was ignored as she called out to the yokai.
The song of a sword sang in smooth tones as Sesshomaru drew Tokijin from its place at his waist, the point of the sword wedged in the ground close to InuYasha's head.
"Should I kill you baby brother?" Sesshomaru asked menacingly, his foot pressing down a bit harder on the hanyo's skull, "Should I take your life so you can no longer shame our family name? Or should this Sesshomaru let you live and save your son so you may gain back some of what little honor you had before." Sesshomaru kicked the hanyo back onto his back, his foot pressing down on the hanyo's ribcage as he leaned in closer to the hanyo's face, "Remember, little brother, your fate has always lay in my hand. I have every right to take away your pathetic life right now."
"Sesshomaru, stop!" Kagome collided with the demon then, one arm wrapped around his armored chest and the other underneath his arm and across his shoulder, "Please, Sesshomaru, stop. We have to find my son. I can't lose him again!"
For a moment nothing happened as Sesshomaru mulled over her invasion of his person and her words. InuYasha's breathing was ragged and his eyes were filled with anticipation as his brother's eyes bore down on him, unsure if he was at death's door or not.
"Remove yourself from my person," Sesshomaru ordered, not bothering to look over his shoulder at her.
Immediately Kagome stepped back from him, Koyasha coming up to stand beside her as she entered the scene. Sesshomaru gracefully removed his sword from the ground and returned his blade back to his side, stepping away from InuYasha.
"We will search for the boy," Sesshomaru said, "But he will no longer reside in your care once we find him, InuYasha. Your woman will not be rejected to visit him or care for him, but you will no longer have a place in his life. You have proved that you cannot protect your own child, nor the people of your family."
"You can't do that!" InuYasha said with a slightly cracked voice as he sat up, his eyes filled with a firing anger.
"This Sesshomaru may do as he wishes, InuYasha," the yokai responded, returning InuYasha's glare with a much colder and stronger glare, "I am leader and ruler of this family. Ultimately, I may decide to do whatever I wish with your children, no matter that you are their father. Learn your place in the world and in your family, worthless half-breed."
"There's no fucking way I'll let you take my son from me, you bastard!" InuYasha yelled, his voice fully returned as he jumped to his feet, drawing his father's fang.
Sesshomaru did nothing but turn to look at his brother, his gaze even fiercer that it had ever been, chilling InuYasha to the bone.
"Do you challenge my place, InuYasha?" His voice was unnervingly cool and calm, every emotion he had once shown now devoid from his face to be replaced by a seriousness InuYasha had never seen, "Do you wish to challenge me for the spot I hold in our family? Is your goal to take over a family that hates you and does not pursue you under my command?"
InuYasha froze. Sesshomaru was serious about this, more serious than he had ever been before.
"…No."
"A smart move on your part, hanyo." Sesshomaru noted, turning his gaze away from InuYasha to speak to Kagome, "Gather up what you wish to bring, woman. We leave at sundown."
Then Sesshomaru was gone, leaving behind only a gentle gust of wind.
--
"We're going with you, Kagome," Miroku announced as he helped Kagome cram stuff into a small feudal style bag.
"No, Miroku," InuYasha responded from his spot where Koyasha slept in his arms, "You've got everyone here to deal with."
"Amaya can care for them, she's already agreed to."
"You aren't coming, Miroku." InuYasha repeated, "I'm not going to put either you or Sango in danger. It isn't fair to either of you or your children. What happened if one of you died?"
Miroku fell silent, but before he could open his mouth to speak again, Amaya was at his side.
"I'll go with instead," she said, facing her adopted father, "InuYasha is right. You guys can't leave everybody behind and I doubt I'll be able to keep everything in control here alone."
"But—"
"Father, I know how to fight." She interrupted, "I survived for on my own since I was five. I'll be fine."
"Amaya—"
"Father, you can't stop me and you can't go with them. Understand that. It's time for me to go, but I'll be back."
"You can't guarantee that."
"Yeah she can. If she gets into any type of fix she's got me and Kagome." InuYasha interjected, "And she stood up to my brother. If she can do that without pissing herself she can do anything else."
Miroku tried to think of something to counter him, but after a moment he just sighed and bowed his head.
"Alright. I guess you guys are right." After a pause, he continued, "To tell you the truth, Sango and I… we just miss the adventure. There aren't any more demons around these parts that could attack the house since InuYasha killed all of them. There's nothing to fight and nothing to protect the children from. It's just… we want to fight again…"
Kagome laughed slightly, "Don't worry. Somewhere along the line you'll be able to again. Your children will grow up and demons will come and inhabit these parts. And if they don't do it soon, I'll be surprised. Remember, I've still got the jewel inside me. They'll come around to get it eventually."
InuYasha's ears perked up, "You still have the jewel inside of you?"
"Of course. I just haven't had to worry about it since I was in my time."
"…No, I don't think it's there anymore." Amaya said, her head tilted slightly to the side as she looked at Kagome, "I don't… I don't think it's in you."
"What do you mean? It never left me."
Amaya's eyes lit up with realization, "Your hair is black and InuYasha's hair is white, right?"
Kagome looked confused, "Yeah…?"
"Koyasha's hair is pink." Amaya stated, "And the flea said something about a strange power in Rikuse."
Kagome's eyes widened, her eyes frantically turning towards her daughter and InuYasha.
"She's right…" InuYasha muttered, "And I don't sense the Shikon Jewel on you like I did before. It's more… faint. Almost like only the power is left."
"The power transferred to your kids, I bet," Amaya said thoughtfully, "I think you only have the shell of the jewel left in you Kagome!"
The sakura petals fell all around Rikuse as the music of the flute floated through his senses, the black haired woman holding him in her lap. The garden they sat in was majestic, the sakura trees and trickling pond a beautiful sight to see inside this large mansion. He hadn't been here for long, but time wasn't really an essence any more. For some reason, things just didn't matter to him any more. He just knew he had to breath and be here beside this woman.
The music faded into nothingness as it dropped out of the air.
"What's your name, dear?" the woman asked, her arms wrapping around him.
"…Rikuse." His voice was empty, emotionless.
"You may address me as Misako, Rikuse," she said, a small smile on her face, "I'm going to be you new mother… or something like it."
"I already have a mother, Misako-sama."
"Yes you do, and it's such a shame really. She won't let you experience your full potential, and doing such a thing should be a crime. You have a bright future, Rikuse. Your future is filled with wealth and power, something many people crave but cannot obtain."
"I don't really care for power and wealth, Misako-sama."
She seemed a little confused by his statement, "Then what you do crave, Rikuse?"
"Knowledge."
"So you wish to be wise?" she asked with another small smirk, her arms tightening around him a bit more, "Well, I can make that happen."
"How can you do that, Misako-sama?" he asked, the fog filling his mind becoming a bit clearer, "Sesshomaru-sama told me that knowledge could only be obtained over time and experience. He said that knowledge and power are hand in hand – one cannot be obtained without the other."
"Your Sesshomaru-sama is very wise," she commented, one of her hands twitching ever so slightly, "But he is not wise enough. Knowledge can also be obtained just by knowing someone who is knowledgeable. Knowledge can be obtained by being taught and reaching your full potential, can it not?"
"I would guess so, Misako-sama." His vision began to clear as he talked, the feeling of being in a dream lifting from his mind.
"I am going to allow you to reach your full potential Rikuse." She said, "All you have to do is trust me."
He looked up at her then, his eyes full of confusion.
"Misako-sama, where am I? Who are you?"
She just smiled down at him, her hands suddenly clutching painfully at his chest.
"You're home, and I'm your new mother."
At his surprised and pained expression she found joy, magic flowing through her veins and into his body, the coils and strings of her spell latching onto him and flowing through his blood.
In his last moment of being himself, he managed to ask one question.
"Why are you doing this?"
"So I can gain what I crave, Rikuse, just like you're doing this to gain that knowledge you want so badly."
His scream ran through her ears, her mind unaffected by the child's cries. Sadness was her joy. Suffering was her peace. Damnation was her salvation.
A gust of wind blew up as Rikuse's cries died down, the petals of the sakura petals falling gently around them. The moon, shining bright upon them, cast shadows around them, illuminating the features that were hit by its light.
And only the moon could see the true evil in Misako's eyes.
A/N: Yeah. It suddenly got complicated, didn't it? Wanna know why?
Ok. So, remember Maistwin? Yeah, she decided to get involved in the story once again. So, if you have any complaints about the sudden complications in the story, complain to her. She's insane. She also threatened me that if I don't write what she wants me to write she'll murder me. I have no choice. XD But whatever, it's our (well, my) story. So, enjoy the sudden complications.
Oh, so just so you know, this story has been doubled in length. Instead of the one part story I was going to do, it is turning into a two part story. So, the original 13-15 chapter length will turn into at least 18-22. Probably more. The chapter number will around 30, it just depends since Part 2 hasn't been ploted out entirely.
Enjoy, read, review, and deal with it! (smiles) I love y'all!
Hey, and while you are at it, tell me what you think about Maistwin's choice to make this story longer through threats and rants over the phone.