A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR! A note for myself and for those that missed it last chapter: Meisomaru was the name Shiroihana used when referencing Saya's younger brother. Really I've been thinking that Masuyo and Saya are the intertwining part of Innocence. A further story with them in it would be sequel to both Return and this story. The events of Innocence have brought Masuyo into the Western Lands with Saya/Sess and company while the events of Return have shaped Saya into what you are seeing here. In a way, Innocence is a sequel to Return too. I enjoy the intertwining. Hehe. But my favorite part of this chapter is Aki. Hands down.

…dabada…vusasa…

Disclaimer:

Last Chapter: Shiroihana and Saya had an interesting fight. Shiroihana asked Masu to make a toy so he made a wooden Hiraikotsu for her that would be passed on to Ginrei and Shimofuri's new son. Shiroihana also had an interesting discussion where she was seemingly open and frank with Masu. She actually used his name then too, amazingly. Koinu reached the slayer's village. Shippo went back to the Middle Lands rather than home with IY, Aki, and Kagome. IY promised Aki that he would teach her the adamant barrage to make a diamond for Kagome. Koinu and Kasai fought together and Koinu won. They had a moment together…

Homesickness

During the morning meal the silence was thick and impenetrable. Masuyo almost felt he preferred being taunted to the heavy silence that tried to strangle him. The tenseness within the castle seemed to have affected the cooks too. Masuyo's rice was only partly cooked. Some grains crunched against his teeth, making him grimace and the seasoning was unevenly distributed.

Shiroihana, Saya, Shimofuri, and Hanone were with Masuyo that morning, but only the slurping sounds as Hanone ate her meat filled the room. Shiroihana did not touch her green tea though she whisked it with a chopstick made of ivory. Masuyo watched the chopstick, admiring the artistry that had crafted it, a carver on a level above even Kohimu or Sango herself.

Saya had not spoken to Masuyo since the previous day at lunch when she had incited Shiroihana's deep rage. Masuyo hadn't forgotten Shiroihana's strange words. It was almost a warning and the icy seriousness of it made him shudder as if he'd just been showered in cold water.

After the meal Saya and Hanone departed with Shiroihana, though where they went and why Masuyo couldn't begin to guess. There were portions of the palace, dark stairwells and grand halls that he hadn't ventured into. Shimofuri left Masuyo alone in the luxurious room with its painted walls and disappeared too, but Masuyo thought he knew where Shimofuri was going. He had passed through the hall where Saya, Hanone, and Ginrei slept at night and heard the wailing cries of the new baby, the pup. He wondered if Shiroihana had really given the toy Hiraikotsu to Ginrei and explained its origin.

Masuyo cleaned with the gecko-maids, who flicked their tongues at him in agitation when he broke a teacup and then hissed at him until he trotted away, leaving the rest of the work to them. He crossed through the abandoned, eerily silent halls of Kagetsu palace until he reached one of the open-air terraces.

In the dense, misty-white air, Masuyo felt the coolness of the handrails and then the whimsical carvings in the columns that supported the roof. At one corner Masuyo sat and stuck his head between the wooden railings to peer down. The mist shrouded the mountainside where he assumed the castle was perched, but in reality Masuyo had never seen the solid surface below Kagetsu's terraces. It could have been levitating, floating like a hawk riding the wind.

"Be careful, boy," a male voice said, startling Masuyo into bumping his head on the railing.

He pulled out and looked in the direction of the voice. Appearing out of the mist was Shimofuri, dark like a shadow with his blue-black hair and his gray robes.

Masuyo bowed to the inuyoukai lord, embarrassed at being caught doing nothing but daydreaming and staring into the white nothingness of the mist. "Lord Shimofuri."

"Lady Shiroihana has said that you are her hostage, the child of a demon slayer," Shimofuri murmured quietly. His booted feet came to within two feet of Masuyo's head and stopped there.

Masuyo let out a puff of air and watched it fog the dark wood of the floor under his face. He had not risen out of his bow yet. He didn't know Shimofuri. The lord might be harsh if the proper respect weren't shown to him. Especially if the disrespectful one was a lowly human.

"I understand that young Lady Saya is fond of you." There was a pause and then Shimofuri asked, "What is your name, young man?"

Masuyo sat up at last and wiped at his face, blinking with moisture from the condensing mist. "My name's Masuyo, sir." For the first time Masuyo realized that Shimofuri was not alone out on the terrace in the midmorning summer air. In the inuyoukai lord's arms was a bundle swathed in gray fabric that nearly matched Shimofuri's robes, which was why Masuyo hadn't noticed it before.

Shimofuri noticed the young slayer's stare and smiled, a small and warm expression that startled Masuyo, making him look away. "This is my son," Shimofuri said. "If you want to look at him you may."

Masuyo got up and cautiously peered into the bundle that Shimofuri lowered for him to see. The child was bigger than Masuyo recalled his youngest brother Koudo being when he had been born. The infant's skin was pale but its cheeks were rosy. Sharp, pointed ears stuck out in place of the normal rounded shapes Masuyo had expected. Blue marks, one on each cheek, stuck out against the pink skin below the baby's closed eyes. Black hair topped his head.

Uncertainly Masuyo pulled away and in a stiff, formal way, he said, "The infant looks like Lord Shimofuri."

Shimofuri's smile had not faded but he made no answer as he held the child closer and touched its face tenderly. Masuyo watched him for a moment and then asked, "Is this Lord Shimofuri's only child?"

The inuyoukai lord nodded briefly. "Yes, but I hope for many." Gradually Shimofuri turned his attention more to Masuyo. "Lady Shiroihana tells me that you were born into a large human family. The slayer family acquainted with my cousin Inuyasha, correct?"

Masuyo let out a short, frustrated sigh. "Yes."

"I understand the pain of losing someone I love to Sesshomaru's family," Shimofuri muttered in a dark tone. His brow had furrowed as he stared at Masuyo.

Masuyo made no reply, but he had noticed the distinct way that Shimofuri didn't give Sesshomaru the proper title.

"If you should ever need help, Masuyo," Shimofuri went on more brightly, "I will offer you my help."

Masuyo bowed awkwardly. "Thank you, Lord Shimofuri."

"Someone's coming," Shimofuri announced, jerking his head in the direction of sounds that Masuyo couldn't hear until several more moments had passed.

A shape appeared out of the mists, small and dressed in purple with white hair and amber eyes. "Masuyo!" Saya called. She slowed when she reached them and offered a bow to Shimofuri. "Lord Shimofuri—sorry to bother you but I've come for Masu."

"Of course," Shimofuri replied, smiling as Saya snatched Masuyo's hand and pulled him away down the misty path. Masuyo fought her for a time, straining to get a last look at Shimofuri, to understand what the lord had meant. Was it a suggestion? Or was it a trap?

"Where are we going?" he asked when Saya slid the door leading to the inside of the palace open. She ran through it, tugging Masuyo behind her as if he were a tethered horse dragged by his halter. Masuyo tried to close the door but Saya's strength surprised him, tearing his grip from the door latch. "Saya!"

"Father's come to take us home!"

They ran until Masuyo was panting, their feet clattering over the floors until they reached the entrance to the audience room. As Saya slid it open for them, Masuyo recognized the white walls painted with snowflakes. It was the room where he, Kagome, and Miroku had sat and originally discussed rescuing Kasai. As he stepped onto the matting in the room, Masuyo felt a deep foreboding spread over his limbs, making him feel ten pounds heavier.

He and Saya sat on the floor next to one another, just inside the door. Sesshomaru was closest to the exit that led out to the massive stairway that left Kagetsu palace behind. Shiroihana sat on a small platform like a queen, presiding over her son, her granddaughter, and the helpless slayer boy. Saya bowed to her grandmother but Masuyo stayed upright, glaring.

Shiroihana smiled at him and then turned back to Sesshomaru. "I have taken fine care of little Saya."

"I can see," Sesshomaru said, blandly. "I have come to take her home."

"How is Lady Rin? Has she reached a decision?"

Sesshomaru inclined his head in a tiny motion. "She is well. The child is female. She has decided to keep it."

Shiroihana leaned forward with enthusiasm. She made a cooing noise like joy. "How lovely! Did this decision please you, Sesshomaru?"

"That is none of your concern," Sesshomaru told her. His lips curled slightly, hinting at his discomfiture. "I have not come to socialize with you, Mother." He lifted one arm and motioned at Saya and Masuyo. "Come here to me, we are leaving."

"Very well," Shiroihana said, sitting back and rolling her shoulders, adjusting the white fluff. She watched her own hand moving over the fur as she said, "It has been a pleasure to have my granddaughter here, Sesshomaru. You may let her stay when the new pup arrives if you find it necessary."

Saya scampered to her father, throwing her arms around the tall, stately inuyoukai lord. Masuyo moved gradually after her, uncomfortable and awkward. He was aware the entire time of Shiroihana's eyes on him. He dreaded her speaking but knew that it was inevitable.

"Sesshomaru," Shiroihana called as her son turned toward the door leading out to the stairway and the verandah. Even though he didn't turn back to look at her, Shiroihana continued, "Watch over the boy. Keep him close—don't set him free."

Masuyo glowered over his shoulder at Shiroihana and his hands clenched up into fists. Shiroihana returned his look with a smug smile. She rose to her feet and moved from the platform toward the inner door of the white room. Her white hair swished at her shoulders elegantly. Then she had vanished and Saya shut the door they had walked through.

Masuyo gazed out at the verandah around them, the thick, heavy mist. It slowed his breathing and sped up his heart as his body tried to panic. The air was so thick that it was hard to breathe. It was like being stifled. Masuyo walked after Sesshomaru and Saya, trailing them by an extra five feet.

As they reached the stairway Masuyo took a deep breath, resigning himself to the long trek and to the unknown. He admired Saya's white hair and the long grace of Sesshomaru's tread and his lithe body. This was Masuyo's bizarre, unfriendly family now. He clung to the promise Saya had made. When she had control over his fate she would set him free. He had only to wait until then.

"All right," Inuyasha growled. He pulled Tetsusaiga from its hilt with a harsh scream of metal on metal. The blade transformed at once into the huge, shining fang, filled with power. For show Inuyasha held it with one hand parallel to the ground. He scuffed at the grass with one bare foot, checking its basic composition for a moment. "Take it, Aki."

His daughter stepped closer timidly, extending both hands as Inuyasha passed the blade to her. Akisame blinked unsteadily as its full weight hit her. She felt her palms itching, tingling with the demonic energy within the fang. She thought of her grandfather, the legendary man and beast that had given her father his incredible power even as a hanyou.

This was the second day that she had practiced with the Tetsusaiga under her father's tutelage. On the first day it had been a struggle to remember how to keep the sword from shrinking at her touch. What she had said before wasn't untrue—Tetsusaiga didn't like her very much. It quivered, fighting her. Akisame doubted her own demonic powers; they were too weak to control the sword. Inuyasha had never said that, and Akisame was too frightened to say it aloud, but she suspected it was on both their minds, and on the sword's, if it could be said to possess a mind.

She had managed a few weak wind scars with Inuyasha's encouragement, and a few of the secrets he used for pleasing the sword the night before, but now Inuyasha wanted her to try the adamant barrage, the blast that created diamonds.

"Warm up with a wind scar," Inuyasha suggested, stepping sideways and back to be out of her way. He patted her back, offering reassurance.

Akisame stamped one foot and held the Tetsusaiga parallel to the ground, concentrating. She reached deep within her, to the place that sometimes fueled her rage and always provided fertile ground for her temper. She found the energy of her inuyoukai grandfather there and felt the Tetsusaiga pulse happily in her hands, recognizing her as family of sorts. Now she did the most embarrassing thing, a fact that Koinu had never told her about, possibly because he didn't know…

Lowering her chin in the same instant that she raised the sword to strike, Akisame whispered, "Gagaga—zubaba…" The sword slammed down, the hilt heated in her hands and Akisame cringed, closing her eyes tightly. Air ripped around her, screeching. Then came the sound and the scent of torn soil and cut grass.

Inuyasha slapped her back enthusiastically. "All right! You did it! That was a good one too! You're as good as Koinu is now."

Akisame let out a long breath. "Are you sure I have to say that ridiculous thing?"

"What thing?" Inuyasha asked, his ears perking up. His golden eyes were bright with glee.

"You know…"

"No, I don't—but you didn't call out your attack. What if there were some village kids running through the opening here or some shit? You always have to shout your attack!"

Akisame sighed. "Never mind. Let's make Mom a diamond."

Inuyasha nodded and began instructing her on the changed style of attack. The adamant barrage required more of a twisting motion while the wind scar was more forgiving. Inuyasha demonstrated while holding a stick, lifting it over his head and turning on one heel as he swept the stick down in an arc.

"Be absolutely sure—fucking positive—that no one is in the way. Got it?"

Akisame rolled her eyes. "Duh."

"Oh, and you have to talk to Tetsusaiga again," he said, snatching the sword from her and lifting it over his head in the motion he had just demonstrated for the adamant barrage. The sword gleamed brightly as he made the practice motions. Akisame heard him muttering as he moved and her shoulders sagged as she realized that her father was about to tell her another secret incantation that would impress Tetsusaiga into working properly. Please let it be better than gagaga and zubaba.

After the practice motion, Inuyasha passed Tetsusaiga back to her with a hard, pensive look. "I think the words this time are dabada and yusasa."

"Dabada-yusasa," Akisame repeated, staring blankly at her father. "Are you serious?"

"What are you looking at me like that for?" Inuyasha demanded, genuinely confused. "Do you want to make diamonds or not?"

Frowning, Akisame turned and took up the stance Inuyasha had just shown her. She let Tetsusaiga shrink while she practiced the motions, listening for her father in case he found a mistake she needed to correct but none came.

Finally, with a deep breath, Akisame found the demonic power within her core to transform the sword, waking it. Then she hefted it high and muttered, "Dabada-yusasa…" she broke off and shouted the attack, "Adamant barrage!"

Wind whipped back and hit her in the face, bringing little chunks of debris. Akisame cringed but tried to peek through lidded eyes at the carnage of what she had done with Tetsusaiga's help. The clearing, healthy, green, and cheery in the summer sunlight, was torn and shattered as the destructive wind carved through it like a knife through butter. Flying out from the whirlwind were tiny sparkling shapes like shattered glass.

Overall the barrage was smaller than one Inuyasha would've used in battle by several massive degrees, but that hardly mattered. As the dust settled and the last of the diamonds clattered to the ground, ranging from the size of gravel to little more than glitter, Inuyasha grinned with pride. The next slap on Akisame's back nearly knocked her flat on her face.

"Would you cut that out, Dad?" She plunged Tetsusaiga into the ground and swung her arm around as if Inuyasha's playful punch has knocked the joint out of the socket.

"Don't be such a baby," Inuyasha laughed. He pointed a claw out to the diamonds that now littered the small clearing. "Which one do you think your mother would like?"

Akisame shrugged. "Anything would be my guess."

"Pick one out," Inuyasha ordered, still grinning with every white tooth showing.

Akisame pulled Tetsusaiga out of the ground and handed the dinged up fang to her father, letting him sheathe it before she walked into the destroyed clearing. The ground was loose beneath her feet, several times her toes or her heel sank into the loosened dirt, nearly tripping her. When she saw a particularly shiny set of diamonds she knelt down and picked over them until she found one that looked close enough to a Zales commercial that she'd seen on tell-a-vision the night before while they ate at her grandmother's in the modern era.

She stood up and waved at her father. "How about this one?"

"Great," Inuyasha called, checking the sun to guess what time it was. "Take it and let's get going home."

"I'm sorry for having to do this," Miroku said, giving a small duck of his head. His fingers idly traced the characters for purification and demonic auras that he'd painted on the sutras earlier that morning.

Koinu shrugged. "It doesn't hurt that much," he lied.

Sango and Miroku had started Koinu's day in this way. After establishing who would sleep where the previous night, a difficult thing to manage in a household now numbering nine individuals, Koinu had found himself in the same room as Tisoki, Kohimu, and Nobe. Getting to sleep and staying there had been difficult, nearly impossible. After weeks of travel, Koinu had adjusted to sharing a bedroll and his blankets with another person, usually Akisame. He missed her presence, the comforting scent of family and the light whistle and wheeze as she breathed so close to him.

Homesickness started then and when Miroku slid open the door to their room the next morning, an hour after sunrise, Koinu had only just fallen asleep.

Tisoki and Nobe rose first, following the smell of cooking food. Kohimu tried to follow them but Miroku ordered his eldest son to sleep a little longer instead. Kohimu's injury, the bite wound that had nearly claimed his life, was still tender and limited Kohimu's strength. Sleep was the best way to assure swift and complete healing. Later in the morning Sango would bring her son an herbal infusion to accompany his breakfast, then send him after his brothers.

Koinu ignored his melancholy and his fatigue to leave the room with Tisoki and Nobe. From the smaller second bedroom on the upper floor Kasai, Koudo, and Riki came out. Koudo and Riki bickered together while Kasai shepherded them down the stairs to where breakfast was waiting.

Breakfast was surprisingly somber, despite the number of people partaking in it. Some small ritual was lost without Masuyo's presence and Koinu sensed the family's brooding sadness. One spot was strategically left empty, and when Nobe sat in it Riki scolded him. "That's Masu's spot!"

Nobe flinched and muttered, "Sorry."

As they finished breakfast Sango gave out instructions. Tisoki and Nobe would clean the kitchen until Kohimu was up and fed, then they would take Nobe together and begin some basic training. Kasai would accompany Sango to the market, as would Koudo and Riki to help carry things back home. Koinu was left with Miroku for something special. When Koinu saw the monk only a few minutes later, sitting in the small office he had set up in a space below the stairs, converting what should have been a place for storage, he knew exactly what unpleasantness was in store. Miroku was writing out sutras in a careful hand with a charcoal pen.

When the others had cleared out on their various assignments, Miroku brought Koinu into the kitchen and sat across from him at the table. He laid the sutras out for Koinu to see and began his apology awkwardly. "Let's begin, then."

Koinu's ears fell flat in spite of himself as he readied himself, stiffening his spine. Miroku gripped the bottom of one sutra, pinching it in a way that forced the paper to stand upright, allowing the characters of the written spell to stand out clearly. Miroku's lips moved but Koinu couldn't read them before the sutra had descended onto his forehead. A cracking sound rent the air around Koinu's head and sharp pain spurted through his skull.

Koinu clenched his jaw, stifling the small cry that rose in his throat.

As suddenly as the pain had come, it vanished. Koinu opened his eyes and saw the scorched, blackened edges of the sutra still stuck to his forehead. He reached up and touched it but the sutra slipped off, falling harmlessly to the table. He lifted his eyes to Miroku and tried to wiggle his ears, but they had changed position, glued to the side of his head.

Miroku nodded sternly. "I see."

"What?" Koinu prompted. "What is it?"

"I wondered if spells would purify you, or if only direct touch would do it. It seems you are not immune necessarily to any purification energy." Miroku's expression hinted at failure and Koinu's shoulders sank, as if the fault were solely his.

"Now what?" Koinu asked.

"We have to wait until your youkai power returns. I don't know how long that will take." He paused and then, with sudden interest he asked, "Can you perhaps willingly bring it back?"

Koinu shrugged. "If I could do you think I'd keep transforming after the new moon?"

Miroku frowned. "You have a point—but could you try…?"

Frustrated already, Koinu pulled on his black hair, wincing when it tugged on his sensitive scalp. He reached through the thick, black mat of it and touched his ears, admiring the unusual roundness and the lack of fur. He searched his mind, wondering if he could find something to stimulate his inuyoukai strength. If he had held Tetsusaiga the sword could arouse those powers, tugging on them the same way that Koinu had pulled on his hair. Anger was another way, or the survival instinct—fear. But what Koinu really felt in that moment, the faint sense of failure, and of homesickness, the melancholy mixture was the exact opposite for encouraging the fourth of his soul that was inuyoukai.

"Perhaps this…" Miroku said, grabbing up a sutra from inside his robe, one he hadn't put on the table, hadn't thought to use.

"What is it?"

"A rare spell that I learned a long time ago—back when you were just a baby, I think. Most spells are concerned with killing demonic energy or disrupting it to expose a true form. A spell to expose a true form influences youkai energy by increasing it. In the case of a hanyou it may not work the way we want it because you have two true forms. The appearance you have now is normal for you at certain times. Thus this may not help at all, but we could try anyway." Miroku lifted the sutra the same way he had with the first, pinching it at the bottom. "Do you wish to try?"

"Yes, it can't hurt can it?" Koinu asked, trying to smile. In truth transforming would hurt no matter how it was done, though if his inuyoukai side regenerated on its own the transformation would hurt significantly less.

Miroku stretched his arm forward and this time gently placed the little bit of paper onto Koinu's chest. Koinu winced, expecting pain, but none came. The paper fluttered off Koinu's chest, showing no sign of sticking at all. Koinu cursed inwardly, but when he glanced up at Miroku the monk wore a surprised look. "What is it?"

"That spell should have stuck on you, even if it didn't work."

"It's because I don't have enough inuyoukai power to activate it," Koinu muttered, sullenly.

"No," Miroku said and shook his head, perplexed. "It's unusual…" He reached into his robes and began flipping through a large loose-leaf booklet of prewritten sutras, searching for something.

"What are you going to try now?"

"I won't be trying anything. You will be."

Koinu blinked and sat back. "What?"

Miroku tore out one of the sutras and held it out to Koinu, letting the paper flop over limply. When Koinu hesitated, Miroku gave it a quick waggle. "Take it and hold it as I held the others."

Pursing his lips with uncertainty, Koinu took hold of the little note, expecting a spark or some other painful punishment for holding something with spiritual power. Nothing happened and gradually Koinu brought the sutra closer to himself and adjusted his hold to mimic Miroku's. "What do I do with it now?"

"Use it on me," Miroku ordered in an almost bright voice.

"What?" Koinu barked, shaking his head in the negative. "I can't do that…"

"You've always assumed that, but you are human now. Perhaps your mother's miko powers will appear." Miroku reached across the table to manipulate Koinu's hold on the sutra and then sat back once he was satisfied. "There—this sutra is a restraining one, designed to work on humans with spiritual power, such as myself."

Miroku placed his hand on the table, palm up. "Put the sutra on my hand after reading it aloud. That will activate it. If you have even the slightest spiritual power the sutra will use it and bind my hand."

Stiffly, Koinu murmured the characters written on the sutra and then, mimicking Miroku again, slapped it onto the monk's hand. Immediately he felt a tingling in the fingers that had touched the sutra, and on Miroku's hand the little slip of paper flashed purple and glowed. Koinu rubbed his hands on his thighs, trying to relieve them of the tingling while Miroku strained, struggling to move his hand.

"You've done it," Miroku said, suddenly grinning. "I don't know how it's possible, but you have spiritual powers."

"Why do my fingers itch?" Koinu muttered, still rubbing them.

"I suspect the energy is at conflict with your inuyoukai heritage—but it is there nonetheless when it shouldn't be." Miroku motioned with his chin. "Take the sutra off."

Koinu did as he asked but handled the smoldering bit of paper as little as he could, dropping it away from Miroku's hand onto the table. He brushed his hand on his chest and frowned.

"Is it painful to touch?" Miroku asked, staring at Koinu, searching his face with suddenly widened violet eyes.

Koinu hesitated. "…Almost…No. Not really."

Miroku smirked as he lifted his hand from the table. "It must be more than a little distracting because you didn't notice that you have regained your inuyoukai powers."

With a start, Koinu looked down and saw that his black hair had changed into white. He flicked his ears atop his head and felt them move easily. "Wow…"

"Very interesting indeed," Miroku agreed, smiling with amusement.

"Akisame?" Kagome called as she treaded down the hall. She slid open the door to her daughter's bedroom and found it empty. Akisame had put away her bed in the hidden cabinet in the floor of her room to make more space, leaving the room virtually empty. Along one wall, hanging on improvised wire and wooden hangers that attached to a beam running along the ceiling, Akisame had hung up a varied assortment of clothes. Loose pants like the kind a boy would wear swayed just barely beside silken robes that Inuyasha had bought her as a young child. Beyond those Kagome saw hakama and haori, simple under robes beside silky ones, long socks sewn in a style Kagome would have worn as a schoolgirl, and then the split-toe design native to Japan.

"Akisame…?" Kagome stepped into the room and pushed aside a pair of blue hakama. "Are you in here?"

When no answer came she turned and left the room without bothering to slide the door closed. She walked past the doorway to her and Inuyasha's room, certain that Akisame wouldn't be there. That left the bathroom at the far end of the hall and Koinu's empty room. Both doors were closed, but Kagome heard the faint tinkling sound of water and headed to the bathroom. She knocked and called her daughter's name.

"I'm taking a bath! What do you want, Mom?"

Kagome considered scolding her daughter for the sharp tone she'd used but shook her head, already knowing it would do little but irritate Akisame. "Where is your father?" she asked.

"Dad's uh…" The water slurped and sloshed and Kagome felt a slight vibration through the floor, telling her that Akisame had gotten out of the tub. The sound of water dripping on the floor further confirmed it.

"Use a towel!" Kagome yelled. Akisame had a habit of shaking first, leaving a wide-flung arc of water spray everywhere for others to trip on.

"Yeah," Akisame answered, grumblingly.

"Where did you say your father was?" Kagome repeated.

"Nowhere," Akisame replied.

Kagome frowned, picking out Akisame's rather obvious lie. She let her voice drop in warning. "Where is he, Akisame?"

"I don't fucking know! Get off my back about it!"

"You've been with him constantly since we came home—I know you know where he is. I haven't seen him since he got up and left at dawn and he missed lunch. What is he up to?"

Akisame growled on the other side of the door and Kagome backed away from the door as she heard her daughter's bare feet on the floor, heading her way. A second later Akisame had thrown open the door and stuck her head out to glare at her mother viciously. "He isn't in trouble if that's what you're thinking," she snapped.

Kagome eyed her suspiciously. "Did he go after Koinu?"

Akisame pulled back with surprise. "No! Of course not!"

Kagome shook her head with confusion. "Then why won't you tell me where he went?"

"Cuz he told me not to tell you!" Akisame hiked the towel that she'd wrapped around herself higher and sniffed, curling her toes inward over the floor. "Can I get dressed now?"

Kagome was silent, troubled by her husband's absence while Akisame stormed past her and swept into her own room, slamming the sliding door with a rough clattering sound. It was several moments before Kagome moved after Akisame and shouted, "Can you at least tell me when he'll be back?"

"For dinner," Akisame replied, then she cursed and Kagome heard clothing billowing and the wire hangers shifting with a whining sound.

Akisame had hung her clothes from the beam in the ceiling which was too high for her to reach. That meant that to get them up there she had leaped onto the beam. To get them down required the same effort, an awkward thing for her to do while naked. Kagome smirked to herself, imagining the scene inside.

Heavy clothes hit the floor, whooshing as they came to a rest. Immediately after that was the heavy thump of Akisame's feet. Kagome opened her mouth to tell Akisame to land more gently, but stopped herself, knowing that would only rile her too.

She sighed sadly, lingering as she recalled her daughter in a time years previously, when Akisame had needed help dressing. Kagome had pushed her arms into the sleeves, pulled on the robes, tucking and twisting to remove wrinkles. Akisame watched her mother's fingers with astonishment. And as Kagome had tied the obi and finished the ensemble, a heavy brocade kimono to keep Akisame warmer during the winter, Akisame had gazed up at her mother and gave her a wide, happy grin. Kagome could still feel the smoothness of her child's hair under her fingertips as she had patted her head.

Then from in the room, Akisame growled and began cursing. Kagome frowned. "What's wrong?"

"You're still there?" Akisame asked, sounding surprised. "Can you help me, Mom?"

"What?" Kagome asked, nearly stunned by the usually stubborn, self-reliant Akisame's request.

"I need you to show me how to tie this shitty thing…"

Kagome slid open the door and entered the room cautiously, as if Akisame would spit and hiss at her like a cat for entering her domain when she was vulnerable and half-naked, even though Akisame had asked for her help. Kagome ducked down slightly, trying to see where she was standing in one corner, her upper body obscured by the hanging clothes. Already she could see that Akisame's feet were still bare, but Kagome saw a dark amber under robe, just a little deeper than the gold of Akisame's eyes.

She moved between a pair of loose boy's pants and a haori to stand along the wall where she could see Akisame in the corner clearly. Akisame had dressed herself in the under robe and tied it closed with a small black sash. At her bare feet next to the wall was a pile of baby blue fabric that Kagome recognized as the obi for the kimono Akisame was trying to wear.

"How do I tie that?" Akisame asked, jabbing a clawed finger at the blue obi.

"Where's the outer robe?" Kagome asked, looking at the hangers. She spotted several outer robes that would match the silken golden under robe that Akisame was wearing and motioned for them. "Pick one of those and I'll tie the obi."

"Those are too bulky," Akisame said, scowling. "I just wanted to wear this thing." She lifted up her arms to show the sleeves and kicked out one leg. The under robe was embroidered with brown and orange leaves at the bottom while green vines curled on the sleeves. It was beautiful enough to wear on its own, but really the under robe was meant to be hidden beneath the outer layer and only visible at the collar or when Akisame pulled up the sleeves or the hem. That was why the sleeves and the hem were decorated as they were while the rest of the robe was one simple color.

"I think it's going to be a hot day, Akisame," Kagome murmured. "I'm not sure you'll be comfortable even with just the under robe…" She hoped that the unspoken question in her hesitance would be answered: Why are you trying to dress up? What's on your mind?

Akisame frowned and pulled her wet, tangled black hair forward. She ran her claws through it, wincing whenever she came on a snarl. Something in her expression spoke of pain. Her lips crinkled while she stared at the floor.

"I'll help you with it if that's really what you want…?" Kagome said, smiling gently, offering encouragement.

"Mom," Akisame said and her voice snagged in a little hiccup. "Am I just too weird? Am I a freak or something? Am I ugly?"

"What?" Kagome asked, baffled at what she was hearing. She shook her head firmly and stepped forward, reaching out for Akisame. "No! You're a beautiful girl—you are yourself, you aren't like anyone else and that's how it should be."

Akisame's hands and fingers stilled in their combing movements through her hair. She closed her eyes. "I really miss Koinu."

At last Kagome picked out Akisame's meaning. With Koinu present Akisame was confident and brazen. She acted like the second son Kagome and Inuyasha had never had, the boy that looked like Kagome but acted identically to Inuyasha. But the moment Koinu left her, Akisame felt and cared for the first time that villagers stared at her. She appeared mostly human, but she was actually far from it. She leaped through trees, wore boy's clothes, cursed, ate insects, and laughed at the opposite sex. Without Koinu and Shippo as well to keep her company, Akisame felt her own uniqueness, and maybe she remembered that she was a girl. She was not one of the boys. She was other. And being other brought loneliness and self-doubt.

Kagome was silent for a short time only before she smiled brightly and jabbed her finger upward to a blue-gray outer robe. "I think that one will match well enough, Akisame. And its light enough that I think you'll be okay."

"But it'll feel too thick…" Akisame said sullenly.

Kagome reached slowly and touched her daughter's chin, moving Akisame's face to look into hers. Akisame allowed the touch and met her mother's gaze, blinking furiously at unshed tears.

"Since your father is out doing something secret," Kagome started, smirking. "How about you come with me and I'll take you into town."

Akisame pulled away, scowling. "Why the hell would I want to go there? Everyone will just look at me…"

"They certainly will because when I've finished putting you in that kimono and fixed your hair they won't recognize you and the whole market will see you and say, 'Who's that young lady with Kagome? She's so beautiful!' All the boys will want to talk to you and all the women will be jealous." Kagome grinned, watching her daughter with pride.

"Yeah," Akisame muttered. "And as soon as they hear me they'll start staring the way they always do—but I'm not changing anything for them, Mom. I won't."

"Don't change Akisame," Kagome said. "I would never ask you to change who you are. But I think you've already been pretending to be something you're not."

Akisame bristled, pulling back from her mother. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Kagome continued to smile. "A boy. You've been pretending you're a boy to keep up with Koinu."

Akisame opened her mouth to dispute this but her refute sputtered and died before she could give voice to it. Instead she used anger, pulling on her long black hair and making a face. "I wish I was a boy! I'm stronger than all the human boys and I'm just as strong as Koinu is." She lifted her chin with sudden pride. "I made the adamant barrage with Tetsusaiga."

"Really?" Kagome exclaimed. "So he's really teaching you! Wonderful!"

"Yep." Akisame had brightened with a grin. Her eyes were like honey, rich and warm.

"Well since your father is doing so well by you, it's time I did the same," Kagome announced, her smile changing into a smirk. She pointed to the same blue-gray outer robe. "Get that for me, my strong girl, and I'll show you how to stop your foes with a power your father and Koinu will never have."

Akisame tossed her mother a doubtful look. "And what's that?"

Kagome laughed. "Wait and see…"

A/N: I need to end this story, but honestly I'm not sure how to or where exactly. There's SO much I could write here...ugh...