Rin gave the brothers a tour of her home, chattering happily away as she pointed out this painting or that statue and its history. Shippou nodded vigorously beside the human girl, his tail swishing behind him as the four of them adventured about the castle. Rin showed them the many guest rooms, the giant kitchen manned by dozens of busy youkai, the eastern garden that bloomed with color and smell and ripening fruits, and the massive, grassy area behind her home that Sesshomaru used for training. It was a wide clearing, a rock garden and small stream bubbling on its western side and leading into the thick of the forest. Sesshomaru's home was truly beautiful.
But all of the wonders of the Western Palace paled to the artwork strung about.
Toshiro's breath caught with each new piece he saw.
Illustrations of devastating battles, beautifully vivid landscapes, and images of great white dogs all hung about in stunning color and detail everywhere he looked. Oil paintings, carvings dug right into the stone of the palace walls, tapestries that were hand stitched and bigger than Toshiro and Shippou's room at home. It was all magnificent. It all made his artist's heart nearly stop.
Rin paused again as they traversed through the main foyer, explaining to them how it had taken a master weaver nearly three summers to complete the enormous rug that covered the expanse of the floor. It depicted inu youkai of every shape and color in a wild, feral sort of romp, some with great large ears, some with curling wild tails, some with short stubby legs. The youkai all pranced about the carpet together in their true forms, a mash of inu culture that was now all but disappeared.
It had made his hand and heart twitch for his colored pencils and paints.
Toshiro, of course, had never been allowed to indulge in his creativity when he lived with his aunt in the South. He hadn't even known he'd loved art back then. He'd stare hours at the stories told in the artworks around the Southern castle, imagining himself a free fawn in a forest or an eagle youkai loose in the sky. . . what else was a captive hanyou pup to do? What other escape was there for him but colors and shapes and patterns that depicted freedoms he would never experience?
When Kagome and Inuyasha noticed his pension for the arts they'd encouraged it immediately; His adoptive mother almost always brought him back paints and brushes and charcoals from her time, his adoptive father almost always stopped in the marketplace on his way through it to get the pup more parchment or wood or cloth to paint or draw on.
The pack displayed his creations with a pride that made Toshiro blush.
Kaede had asked him to paint the pottery around her home. He'd spent days on her many mixing bowls and vases, creating pictures of arrows and Shinigami in vibrant reds and whites to pay homage to Kaede's lost sister Kikyou. Miroku and Sango had allowed him to paint the two wooden cribs that the monk had built for his pups. Toshiro painted one in patterns of trees like Inuyasha's forest, different shades of greens used to depict shafts of light breaking through in some areas. On the other he'd used yellows and pinks to create a sunrise, the brightest yellow at the center of the crib like a heart.
Rin was leading them through another long hallway when an image struck Toshiro out of his memories, stopped him dead on his feet.
It was a painting that covered almost the entire expanse of the western wall, bright and colorful and terrifying. It portrayed a battle. Hundreds of creatures stood at Toshiro's height, wielding all manner of armor and weapons; youkai, by their pointed ears and claws. There were boar youkai with their bovine noses, and serpent youkai who's forked tongues were out as they roared, and eagle youkai who's wings were depicted bloody and beautiful in detail.
Above all the fighting flew two great, huge beasts. On one side of the sky flew an inu youkai with a single navy stripe across each cheek. It's gigantic paws were placed to look as if it were jumping from cloud to cloud, it's mighty fangs bared in a savage sort of laugh, the white fur of its back trailing behind it like a cape. Bloodied arrows stuck out of the youkai's fur and armor and still it grinned, it's red and green eyes fixated on the massive dragon youkai that swirled in the sky opposite it. The dragon's purple hide was scaled in so much detail Toshiro was sure that if he reached up to touch it, it would be rough under his fingers. The white and blue mask perched atop the dragon's head gleamed as if hard as glass, the dangerous smirk painted there made Toshiro shudder.
Toshiro's eyes cut back to the snarling inu youkai and he took a dazed step closer to the image, his head cocked to the side as a strange mixture of emotions crowded his chest.
He knew this youkai.
Deep in his gut, in his soul, he felt a piercing sense of recognition that he didn't understand. Toshiro stared into the paintings pale green and red eyes, becoming lost in the strange familiarity he felt until a voice snapped him to attention.
"This is one of my favorite paintings in the whole palace; The Battle of the Western Lands. Not many knew that the previous Inu no Taisho had a love of art as well as combat." Rin said proudly, stepping up beside the hanyou to gaze up at the painting. "He actually painted quite a bit of the artwork hung here. But I think this one is the most devastating. Lord Touga captured himself so well."
Toshiro whirled around, his head spinning with the motion. "Himself?"
Rin nodded her head with a small noise, her hands clasped behind her back.
"This was the great youkai in his true form, one in which he took to rid the Western Lands of the cruel Ryukotsusei and his ilk." A glance at the terrifying dragon grinning back at the inu youkai. "This was the battle that started it all. . . and led to Lord Touga's eventual demise."
"That's amazing." Shippou whispered in awe, appearing at Toshiro's other side. His head was craned back as he took in the mural. "I would have never pegged the Inu no Taisho for a painter. But then again who would've thought Lord Grouchy Pout here to be such an amazing artist too."
The kitsune nudged his brother with a smirk. Toshiro shoved him away with an embarrassed chuckle, forcing himself to look away from the painting that called to him.
"You're just jealous you can barely draw a sword straight."
Rin snickered and just as the kitsune opened his mouth to snark back, a short youkai approached them with a clearing of his throat.
The children turned to the intruder, Rin already smiling and Moeru already grumbling in his natural suspicion against Toshiro's scalp. The male was an Iriomote youkai, in his animal form but standing on two paws like a man. His ears were rounded atop his head, his eyes were big and golden brown. A spotted tail swished behind him patiently.
"Lady Rin, I am sorry to interrupt your conversation." The feline said kindly, his face warm and contrite and whiskered. He dipped his head respectfully at Shippou and Toshiro before turning back to the human. "It is nearly dinner time, and the kitchen staff would like to know your preference for dessert this evening."
Rin grinned and gave some response Toshiro didn't hear.
The pup was too busy watching the youkai and the way he deferred to the human girl.
All of the servants in Lord Sesshomaru's home seemed to be of woodland nature; deer youkai with climbing antlers, rabbit youkai with big feet and twitching noses, pheasants, and badgers, and racoon dogs. They had all lowered their heads in respect when Rin and the boys passed, some giving the human girl indulgent smiles and pats on the back when she'd deigned to wrap them up in tight hugs.
Toshiro marveled at the diversity that Sesshomaru kept in his home, and at how easily accepted Rin seemed amongst so many creatures different from her. Rin was technically the heir to this palace, Toshiro mused, even with her human nature. She was Lord Sesshomaru's chosen child as Toshiro was Inuyasha and Kagome's.
"Thank you so much, Koji." Rin wrapped the cat youkai up her arms.
Toshiro smiled at how the male simply returned the embrace with no resentment or disgust.
"We'll have it ready for you and your guests soon. As soon as Lord Sesshomaru is done with his meeting with Master Inuyasha and Lady Kagome, dinner will be served." Again the male, Koji, bowed to Shippou and Toshiro before padding off down the hallway.
Toshiro's ears flicked as Shippou and Rin started back up their chatter, but the hanyou pup's mind was elsewhere now.
"What do you think they're talking about?" Toshiro interrupted whatever his brother had been saying to the girl. At the blinks he received he snorted. "Our parents? They said they'd speak of getting into the Southern castle later, but then kicked us out. What do you think they're talking about in there?"
Shippou crossed his arms and flicked his tail. "I don't know Toshiro, but don't you think we should leave it to them?"
"Tch. No."
"What exactly do you think we'll be able to do against that psycho Orochi and your aunt, anyway? We're pups."
"I'm not a pup." Toshiro glared. "I'm stronger now. And it shouldn't be down to them. I'm the one who brought this mess to our door."
Shippou narrowed his eyes. "Whatever you're scheming, stop."
"I'm not scheming anything." The hanyou blinked innocently. "I just think that we have a right to know what's going on. Don't you?"
"No."
Rin cleared her throat daintily. The brothers looked to her, and she smirked a smirk that had Toshiro tilting his head. If he'd really thought about it beforehand it would have been obvious to him that the human was receiving training from Sesshomaru. She played the delicate heir well, but there was the makings of a warrior in the way she held herself; the cant to her chin, the challenging gleam in her brown eyes.
"There is. . . a way. That we could listen, I mean."
The kitsune groaned. "Oh no, not you too."
The hanyou pup grinned mischievously at the girl. "I like you."
Rin giggled, and both human and hanyou ignored Shippou's sputtering.
"This is a bad idea, aniki! Sesshomaru will kill us, and worse mother will pluck us into next week! Toshiro, are you even listening to me?"
Toshiro just smirked at Rin and swept his arm out in a gentlemanly bow. "Show me the way, Lady of the house."
The kitsune called to their retreating backs. "Have you heard the saying about curiosity killing the cat?"
Toshiro threw a look over his shoulder, Moeru's tail swishing against the back of the hanyou's neck like a sentient ponytail. "I'm not a cat. And neither are you, Shipp."
Shippou shot pleading look up to the heavens, then groaned and raced to catch up with his brother and Rin.
She led them quickly and quietly around the palace until they came to a supply closet. Rin all but shoved them inside and closed the door, lighting a small lantern on the wall before kneeling to unveil a hidden crawl space. She removed the wooden panel carefully, deftly, showing the dark tunnel to the dumbstruck boys behind her.
"Dozens of these tunnels run through the castle." She said quickly, quietly. "When I'm not in training, or lessons, or with Lord Sesshomaru, I'm usually skulking through one. Most of them are connected to other storing spaces, some of them lead to the kitchens or the indoor training rooms. This one leads to Lord Sesshomaru's personal dining area."
She beamed proudly at the brothers.
"So you're a spy." Shippou blinked in disbelief.
"I'm a human girl surrounded by youkai and hanyous, and I get bored." Rin puffed her cheeks and blushed. "I don't spy on people."
Toshiro grinned. "Until today."
0:0:0:0:0:
Moeru was grumbling disapprovingly against the hanyou's scalp, but Toshiro shushed his partner with a scratch between the ears.
This was too good of a chance to let up.
Toshiro crawled closely behind Rin, Shippou bringing up the rear in the small space. They just fit, and had been following Rin through the cramped labyrinth of tunnels for a while. Unlike the rest of the house, which was alight and warm from every angle due to the countless stained glass windows, the tunnels were nearly pitch black and cool, the stone swallowing up every bit of sound they made as they shuffled through turn after turn. Toshiro didn't know how long they crawled on in the darkness, but no sooner had impatience began to prick at his skin did he hear the faint mumble of voices.
Even Moeru stopped his grumping as Rin approached a dead end to the tunnel, the square ring of light around the hidden entrance showing the determined set of her chin. The girl removed the false piece of wall with stealthy, practiced hands, and the children crept from the darkness of the tunnel into the dim light of the storing closet in Sesshomaru's dining area.
They hardly breathed as they righted themselves, stepping quietly and carefully around the shelves of extra pillow cushions and tea ware to creep as close as they dared to the closet door. The adults could be heard clearly through the varnished wood.
Toshiro, Shippou, and Moeru had agreed to conceal their youki when they entered the secret tunnels, and now it took an enormous amount of concentration for Toshiro to shield himself and listen to the adults bickering through the wall. The prick of sweat beading on his brother's forehead told him that Shippou felt the same strain.
"We are not marching on the South." Came Sesshomaru's deadpan voice.
"This bitch sent her sentinel into our lands looking for a fight. Orochi put his claws into my son. This is an act of war."
A long suffering sigh, "While your ire is understood baka, you are not listening. You do not know the inu youkai of the South, you have never fought them."
Inuyasha's scoff was loud and patronizing. "So you're afraid,"
Toshiro's strenuous hold on his youki nearly slipped when he felt Sesshomaru's blast once in anger. "Watch your tongue."
"Watch my—"
"What if war isn't necessary." Kagome interrupted calmly; her voice distant. Toshiro saw Shippou squirm at their mother's voice. He stilled his brother with a glare before he turned back to the door. There was a pause before she pushed on. "You told us that Misa was widely loved, and that some of her people showed regret when they saw how Toshiro was treated."
Rin and Shippou shot Toshiro compassionate glances. . . the hanyou hated it.
Through the haze of pain and sorrow he'd lived in he remembered the quick, pitying looks. He remembered how, so rarely, he would receive secret smiles of encouragement or scraps of food tucked into his clothing as he moved through a room. He remembered sometimes waking to the usually filthy, bloody blanket he slept under washed nearly clean. He remembered those stolen, precious moments wherein a brush against his arm, or neck, or back was not to strike or humiliate him, but to silently tell him that he was not so alone, to remind him that not all touch was torture. Those far and in between instances, and his hidden picture of Misa, were all that had kept his mind from truly shattering all those years.
Were the blurred faces of those inu youkai the people who still loved his birth mother? Were those secret, small kindnesses the Inu of the South's way of defying Katsumi?
Toshiro let out a shuddering breath, forcing himself to focus.
"Any regret they showed was shoved down by the fear Katsumi instilled in them." Sesshomaru was saying, matter of fact. "Even though Katsumi tore apart families, isolated them from the outside world, murdered their friends and lovers and children. . . We are canid. They will not rise against her without the push of a new Alpha to spur them."
Another pause before the miko said quietly, "What about Toshiro?"
"Kagome! No way in Hell are we—"
"Think about it, Inuyasha. Think it through." Her voice was adamant now, beseeching. "He is next in line for the Southern mantle. He is by right and blood their Alpha and Lord. If they would not rally behind him, then who?"
Toshiro's heart gave a shocked, terrified leap. He took an unconscious step closer to the door and Shippou's hand shot out to grab onto his arm. He hardly felt it.
Him? Leader of the South? It was impossible.
Inuyasha growled dangerously. "We are not sending our son to be some revolutionary martyr for a people who sat back and watched him tortured for years."
"You cannot blame them for not acting, baka. They are—"
A great crash, glass smashing against the stone wall. All three children flinched in their hiding spot as Inuyasha snarled, "You go take the Southern Castle, then."
"I could take the South, were it my ambition." Sesshomaru made an unaffected, indifferent noise. "But it is not. Nor is it my responsibility."
The miniscule rumbling Moeru had been emitting in Toshiro's hair hushed as they heard Sesshomaru rise, as the youkai's nearly silent steps paced the length of the room.
"To believe that the Inu of the South would rally behind Toshiro is presumptuous and foolhardy. Regardless of his lineage, and regardless of the fleeting pity he was shown, many youkai will protest to having a hanyou for their Lord. It has never been done."
Sesshomaru approached the supply closet and Toshiro and the others shrunk back, not even breathing. But the Inu no Taisho continued his lazy pacing past their hiding spot as he continued.
"It is risky. And I do not think placing a pup who bares hatred for the place of his birth at the head of it is wise. . . but the boy can be useful in another way."
Toshiro's ears flicked up around the saber in his hair. He heard his parent's inquisitive sounds, but froze as Sesshomaru passed by the closet again, closer this time.
But again the male continued by.
"When we were barely grown Misa revealed something to me. Something that could help us get into the Southern land, and that could assist us in finally disposing of that wretch of a female, Katsumi. She told me that the secret to the Southern wards. . . is lineage. Only those who possess the blood of the ruling family can pass through those wards unseen or undetected, and only those of that bloodline are capable of letting outsiders into their land and past them. Toshiro, regardless of his dual nature, is capable of these feats being Misa's true heir. He could be our way in."
Rin and Shippou and Toshiro leaned forward, hanging onto Sesshomaru's every unemotional word. Sesshomaru passed by their hiding spot a third time, and just as Toshiro leaned a little closer to the door, utterly transfixed on Sesshomaru's words, a clawed hand shot straight through the wood.
Shippou let out a terrified screech, and Rin began immediately tearing up, as that clawed hand balled itself in Toshiro's haori and yanked him out of the closet and into the dining area lit with the rays of the setting sun. Moeru's claws dug into his Toshiro's scalp as they were torn free.
Sesshomaru dangled the hanyou pup in the air. Toshiro's heart slammed rapidly against his ribs, his eyes saucer wide and guilty. He could feel his parents glaring murderously at him from where they'd risen from their seats in the commotion. Moeru scrambled back into his place and was pressed down into his partner's hair as if he could disappear.
They were so dead.
"Enjoying your exploring I see, nephew."
Toshiro let out a nervous chuckle, grinning sheepishly up at Sesshomaru's cold face.
"Pest, what the hell were you doing in the closet?" Inuyasha boomed in disbelief. "Shippou, I can see you! Get your furry ass out of that tunnel and come out here, right now."
"Toshi. . ." Kagome's foot was tapping a beat into the hardwood floor that sung of a firm pluck or two waiting for him in the very near future.
Toshiro gulped, his ears folded back into his hair, but he didn't turn to watch as Rin and Shippou shuffled around the broken bits of door and into the room, or as his mother snatched Shippou up by the ear and whispered something to the kit that had him shaking. Sesshomaru still had him pinned with his glare.
"Did you not realize that while you two now possess the ability to conceal yourselves, that a human may not?" Sesshomaru drawled, gesturing to a pouting Rin, who was digging her toes into the rug and biting her lip. "Did you think that I wouldn't smell her, and assume you to be with her since we'd just sent the lot of you out of the room?"
Toshiro almost smacked himself in the forehead, but was still being dangled in the air like a rag doll. Shippou did the action for him, then was smacked again upside the head by their fuming father.
Toshiro cleared his throat. "Uncle, w-we didn't think—"
"No, you didn't." Sesshomaru barked, and dropped the hanyou carelessly onto a cushion before stalking back to his own seat. "The lot of you know better than this. If you wish to be treated full grown, then behave that way. This behavior is unbecoming of my kin."
He glared at each of them, his bright gold eyes hard as jewels and his scent acrid with disappointment. Rin dragged her feet to her seat at Sesshomaru's right, her eyes still downcast and her hands wringing. Shippou padded quickly over to sit beside his brother on the other side of the table, a hand rubbing at his red ear. Toshiro ducked his head in submission, feeling his parents' ire beat against him as they too returned to their seats.
He was sure to get chewed out later, but even his shame at being chastised couldn't quell the zing of his youki at all he'd heard. He could get back into the South. He could—
"Plotting?"
Toshiro's head shot up. Sesshomaru was staring at him steadily, his back straight, a single brow raised. Toshiro swallowed audibly; his throat suddenly dry. "What you were all discussing. . . is it true? Could I do it?"
Inuyasha was already growling, ready to snap until—
"Would you do it, were it asked of you?" Sesshomaru asked, ignoring the daggers his brother sent him. "Could you do it?"
The pup imagined sneaking back into the South. He imagined facing Katsumi, and Orochi, and all those who had hurt him again. He imagined laying waste to the land that had raised and ruined him, because he knew that if his new family were to wage war against Katsumi on his behalf that that shining beach village would surely fall. He knew that if he were to unleash his youki on the monsters who'd haunted him his birth mother's city would burn to cinders.
And he knew that the youkai in his blood would not care.
But Toshiro was surprised at himself when he realized that the thought of seeing Orochi and his aunt again, of fighting them, did not bring him fear as they would have in the past, as they would have mere months ago. He felt only pity. . . and grim determination. And a hope that his father and uncle would spare those who had tried to help him in the past. Toshiro did not care if they turned the others, the schemers and abusers and power hungry who'd taken pleasure in his torture, to carrion.
His eyes and heart hardened.
"I can do it."
Inuyasha was sputtering in disbelief, his dissent a color high in his cheekbones. Kagome looked proud, and worried, and a bit green. Sesshomaru just stared at him blankly, taking his measure. It was a long time before the dai youkai spoke again. And when he did—
"Come with me."
Toshiro blinked, and then scrambled from his seat as Sesshomaru briskly left the dining area without a look back. The feline youkai from earlier, Koji, was bringing in their food, but the Inu no Taisho shot past he and the other servants without a word. Koji shot them a patient look as they brushed by, his chin canted down, then continued on into the dining area to set up their dinner for their return.
The children struggled to keep up with Sesshomaru, but Inuyasha and Kagome at their backs helped them keep their pace. Toshiro shot a look of over his shoulder to his parents but saw that they too had confused, pensive looks on their faces. Where were they going? What did Sesshomaru want him to do? Inuyasha's eyes met his own and the pup saw those same questions in his father's eyes, and was reminded again of just how much trouble he'd be in for snooping when they got home.
Toshiro twisted back around.
After several turns they ended up in a darker, colder part of the Western Palace that Rin had not shown them. The hallways here were narrow, and was on a strange, downward decline. The grey stone floor was bitingly cold against Toshiro's bare feet.
"Where are we going?" Rin finally whispered.
Sesshomaru didn't look at them as he spoke, his voice as frigid as the air now clouding in front of them. His deep voice echoed off of the walls. "If you lot want to be adults, if you think you can handle all that my brother and I put up with as leaders of our lands, then we shall see."
Toshiro's hackles raised. The children looked at each other in wild confusion but pressed on, following Sesshomaru down a maze of hallways until they found a stairwell leading down into the ground. Sesshomaru spun on his heel, his eyes boring into each of theirs, the darkness at his back casting him in menacing shadow. Inuyasha and Kagome were murmuring uneasily to one another at Toshiro's back, but did not protest as Sesshomaru backed down onto the first step. His eyes were unnerving in the dim hallway, bright, sharp points like twin suns.
Toshiro felt fear skitter up his spine at the hard gleam in his uncle's eyes, and at the faint tang of blood in the air here, wafting up to them from the gloom of the stairwell.
Sesshomaru turned and started down the steps without preamble, a simple "Come." His only command.
They followed him.
Moeru was grumbling against Toshiro's scalp, his claws detracting and retracting against the hanyou's scalp nervously. The pup reached up to scratch between his partner's ears, more so to calm his own heart than the saber's. As he went to drop his hand Toshiro felt Rin's own shoot out and grasp his. He glanced at her in surprise and saw that her eyes were wide an unfocused; she couldn't see in the dark. Toshiro gave her trembling hand a reassuring squeeze as they pushed on.
As they reached the bottom of the stairs they came to a single old, rusted iron door with a huge complicated latch embedded in it. Sesshomaru didn't pause as he unlocked it and walked through, the dim light inside causing Toshiro to blink as his eyes adjusted.
His stomach lurched at what he saw and smelled when they entered.
It was a large, square stone chamber. Lanterns hung on either side of the door and nowhere else, the farthest corners of the room wreathed in shadow. Embedded in each wall were two sets of steel manacles, some stained with dry blood, many littered with scratches and knicks that told of past creatures trying futilely to break free. The floor was strewn with hay and filth, a single drain cut into room's center.
The smell was nearly unbearable. Toshiro pressed the sleeve of his haori to his nose and tried not to gag on the odors of blood and excrement, his heart quickening as he struggled to keep himself from stumbling into that dark corner of his mind that held memories of a room so similar to this one.
Shippou too had his haori pressed against his nose. Rin's eyes were wide and shocked and terrified, her hand still securely in Toshiro's. Kagome looked disgusted and sick, her hands trembling and loose at her sides. Inuyasha's face was hard and cruel in a way that was unfamiliar to the hanyou pup, his father's golden eyes fixed with predatory focus on the only creature in the room that was not his family.
Toshiro followed his gaze and watched as Sesshomaru, unperturbed by the dank room or the blood coating the walls like paint, advanced toward a youkai chained against the north wall, his arms out and above him like a crucifixion.
It was a hyena youkai.
He was beaten bloody, the weak lamplight highlighting the ugly bruises on his furry cheeks, the skin around his wrists rubbed raw where he had tried to pull himself free. His left leg was turned at an odd angle where they lay sprawled in the hay, many of his fingers broken in more than one place.
Sesshomaru stood between the creature and his family and looked coldly at his nephew. "You want to be an adult? Approach him."
Toshiro swallowed.
Inuyasha's incredulous growl echoed off of the stone walls. "There is no fucking way that my son is—"
"Hush, baka." The Inu no Taisho flicked an impatient wrist. "The boy will not be harmed. I merely wish to test something."
Toshiro glanced wide eyes at his parents, at the way that Kagome was holding Inuyasha back with her hand around his wrist. His mother nodded minutely at him to go on and so the hanyou pup turned and stepped closer to the hyena on shaking knees, images of Leiko, and Tadao, and the deranged hyena they'd found in the forest those months ago playing quickly through his head. But Toshiro reminded himself that he was not the quaking pup he had been when they'd stormed that mountain. Nor was he the uncontrolled beast who'd torn off Tadao's arm in a blur of rage and bloodlust. He had spent months learning control, growing not just his knowledge of his power but of himself. He would not falter. And he trusted his family, his mother, and father, and brother, and uncle, not to allow this thing or any thing to hurt him further.
Toshiro straightened his back and carefully, calmly walked forward.
At a closer look Toshiro could see that the male was not unconscious after all, his eyes nearly closed and his breathing labored. He seemed to be stuck mid transformation; his clawed hands and feet furred and spotted, his mouth protruding in a snout, his tail a limp, dirty thing behind him. He wore a filthy undershirt covered in rips and blood, still healing gashes in every shape and size along his face.
"Youkai, raise your head."
At Toshiro voice the creature gasped, a deep painful breathe expanding its lacerated chest. His head indeed snapped up, reopening a ragged wound on his neck, causing blood to leak steadily down his shirt front. The hyena didn't seem to notice. His brown eyes instantly, hungrily focused on Toshiro.
"You." He whispered, his voice dry and cracked from disuse or screaming. "It's you. We've. . . we've been looking for you."
Toshiro clenched his fists and stood straighter, even as dread skirted down his spine. He glanced over his shoulder to the adults, but the only reaction he received was a nod from Sesshomaru to continue, his parents too frozen with restraint. So Toshiro tilted his chin up at the hyena.
"Why?"
"You're. . . you're her kin. He told us we were to find-to find you. . . Tadao. Tadao." A pained howl from the hyena at the name, longing and fear and agony in his voice. Toshiro clamped his hands over his ears and winced. "TADAOOO~!"
Sesshomaru swept Toshiro behind his mokomoko sama, his youki blasting once to silence the hyena with a yelp. The hanyou pup gripped onto his uncle's fur, peering around at the creature with his heart hammering and his ears ringing.
"What does Tadao have to do with this boy?"
"Idontknowidontknowidon—"
Another blast of violent youki, the beginning gleam of Sesshomaru's energy whip on his hand. The Inu no Taisho's voice was as emotionless as ever, but Toshiro sensed the ice that laced his words and was unsurprised when the hyena wet himself in pure terror as Sesshomaru rumbled, "You do."
The chained male gasped wetly, his words rushing. "After Leiko we had nowhere else to go, we had no home and no land! We had no choice! There aren't many of us left, and the Lady of the South offered us asylum. But she doesn't like us around, didn't want us in her city. She made Tadao send us out like common grunts to do her dirty work, to hunt him, to-to bring him to her borders."
"Why?"
"I don't knowww~" The male yowled, eyes wide and petrified on Sesshomaru's faintly glowing hand. "She doesn't tell us anything. Tadao doesn't tell us anything, I swear! We were only told where to bring the boy if any of us managed to capture him, but he is clearly well protected."
The hyena shot Inuyasha and Kagome a vile look, the wrath in his eyes melting when he looked again to the still, cool face of the Lord of the West.
"Hn." Sesshomaru glanced over his shoulder where Toshiro saw that his family were all sporting expressions of disgust and fear. He looked down at his nephew, where the pup was still held onto his fur, where his saber partner was glaring at the panting hyena in pure hatred.
"Leave."
Toshiro blinked. "But Uncle—"
"I said leave, unless you wish to bear witness to what happens next." There was no grudging affection in the inu youkai's eyes then, no love.
Toshiro took a shaking step back, eyes still on Sesshomaru as the male turned back to the hyena. The creature began to wail at the vicious sneer forming on the Inu no Taisho's face. Toshiro knew that Sesshomaru was no torturer, that these were the feats that leaders of great territories sometimes had to make, that this situation was so much different than the one he'd been raised in.
Still his stomach wretched.
A trembling, clammy hand reached out to take his own and Toshiro turned, meeting the large, terrified eyes of his brother. The kitsune swallowed, his brow gleaming with sweat.
"Let's go, aniki." Shippou whispered.
Toshiro nodded woodenly, reaching out his other hand to grasp that of Rin, who had been quietly weeping. Inuyasha and Kagome ushered the children from the dungeon, the former's eyes blazing in rage, the latter murmuring low words of comfort and ease into their ears. The moment they crossed the threshold the iron door slammed shut on a phantom wind.
Toshiro's ears pressed into his hair as they hurried back up the cold, dark stairs.
The sound of the hyena screaming loud enough to reach them through the iron door would haunt the pup's dreams for a while, he thought. As would the thought that his two enemies had now joined forces, and they waited for him like looming giants in a place that had once been his home.
