Disclaimer: This story is based on "Inuyasha," copyrighted by Rumiko Takahashi. No infringement of copyright intended or implied.


This is a short companion piece that goes along with Chapter 17: Moonfall in "Blood Unbound."

Regret

Trapped within Bokuseno's tiny cage, Myoga watched his master's transformation, silenced by grief and horror. Shivering, he watched the hanyo scream and convulse, as the silver hair turned black to match the deadly poison he'd been fed. The deadliest poison known to youkai-kind: that stripped the victim's youki and usually its life.

How had it come to this? Where was the pearl that should be in the hanyo's eye, the pearl that contained the shortcut to the other world where the weapon that sealed Inuyasha's blood lay? Why had the seal shattered? What had caused Inuyasha's transformation into the ravening beast that had attacked the kitsune? Why had not even Bokuseno been able to calm the blood and return Inuyasha to normal?

Woe, oh woe! How he had failed the last charge the late Inu no Taisho had given him; to guard and teach his hanyo son! If only he had not quarrelled with Inuyasha the year before, if only he had not, in his own temper, taken Inuyasha at his word to not come back. He had found a sweet wintering spot with the lovely, graceful, and most accommodating vixen, but was this the cost of his self-indulgence?

Inuyasha went limp, held upright by the woody embrace of the magnolia. Myoga clenched the fibrous bars, still trembling. Oh, his poor master! Please let him still be alive!

Bokuseno's rumbling sigh was felt through the tiny cage grown into one of his branches. "He lives," said the ancient mangolia. "As I thought he would. All hanyos, by nature, go through periods when their youkai blood goes dormant..."

Myoga finally found voice. "But, he hates being human," he whispered. "Will his youkai blood return?"

"I do not know."

Myoga sobbed. His poor master. His poor master!


Author's Note: This was written for the image prompt #10 for the LiveJournal community, I-B-4-Y. The image was a Myoga sitting on Inuyasha's hand. It was originally posted on August 17th, 2011. It won first place. (11/20/11)