Walking from school the next day, Takara caught the same scent again. Miyo was talking to her, so she wasn't concentrating on it as much as she should have been.
A man walked by them, and his shoulder hit her, sending her stumbling backwards. At that moment the scent grew so strong that she nearly gagged. As the stranger turned and looked at her with cold eyes, her memory suddenly snapped into focus, and with a start, she knew where she'd smelled that before.
~Flashback~Standing across from Sesshoumaru was a tall, dark, daija youkai, his eyes shining as he smiled triumphantly down at the inu youkai before him.
Sesshoumaru knelt on the ground, trying desperately not to collapse, and berating himself for allowing this daija to send him to his knees. His armor was broken, and blood stained his white kimono – his blood. He had underestimated this youkai. Few were powerful enough to stand a chance against the great Sesshoumaru. This daija, this Michiomaru, was one of them.
Michiomaru suddenly ran towards the inu youkai at a speed even the inu thought was fast, and before Sesshoumaru could react the daija had his hand around the inu's neck. He lifted him off of the ground, and laughed a horrid, disgusting laugh.
Sesshoumaru's eyes glowed red, and he hissed, before using the little energy he had left to transform into his true form. The great dog's eyes flashed, and he snapped at Michiomaru with his now gigantic canine teeth. The youkai leapt out of the way, and then performed his own transformation, turning into a humongous dark green snake with fangs as long as Sesshoumaru's head. With a burst of amazing speed, Michiomaru had wrapped his body around Sesshoumaru's, and began to crush him. The inu youkai howled, and then the snake plunged its fangs into the neck of the powerful Lord Sesshoumaru. The dog's legs collapsed, and with a cry that sent a wave of terror through all who heard it, the youkai lord, Sesshoumaru, died.
The snake unwrapped itself from around the huge dog, and his eyes began to glow with a strange power. The dog's massive form began to shrink, until soon he was once again in his humanoid form, his eyes staring blankly into nothing. Michiomaru then returned to his humanoid form, and knelt beside the still youkai. He lifted Sesshoumaru's head, sank his fangs into his neck, and absorbed Sesshoumaru's essence.
From a high window in the great palace of the Western Lord, Takara's gold eyes burned red at the sight…
~End Flashback~
Takara stared at the stranger before her, and hundreds of thoughts went through her mind at once. There was no way the man before her could have been standing there. It had to be someone else, some relation of him. She herself had sealed Michiomaru in his cave; there was no way he could have revived and escaped. No, this had to be someone else.
But his scent alone was solid proof. The man before her was someone she had tried very hard to forget about. He was…
"Michiomaru," she barely whispered. His sensitive youkai ears heard her perfectly, and a corner of his mouth turned up in a wicked grin.
"I see the spawn of that retched inu lord is still alive," he hissed, stepping closer to her. She stepped back, and felt Makoto grab her arm.
"Please sir, forgive us for being so careless," Makoto said to the man before them. "We will be going now."
He turned and began to pull Takara away, when Michiomaru grabbed her shoulder and pulled her up close to him. Instinctively, she growled, and her eyes narrowed and became their normal gold. Miyo gasped, and Makoto put a protective arm around her shoulders.
"Do not think, mesuinu [female dog], that you will continue to live a peaceful life," Michiomaru hissed in her ear. "You deprived me of many years of my life, and I will see to it personally that you join your senpu [deceased father] in hell."
His hand moved from her shoulder to her neck, and she grasped his wrist with one hand. Controlling her appearance, her claws formed on that one hand, and her hand began to glow green. She then dug her claws into his wrist and shot poison up his arm. To her surprise, he laughed.
"Do you think you can harm me with doku [poison] inherited from Sesshoumaru?" he said with a smirk. "He is in me, as well as his immunity to doku. You'll have to try again, mesuinu."
"Get out of here, daija," she hissed. "You may have defeated my father, but you will never defeat me."
"Are you so sure about that, mesuinu?" He seemed amused at her statement. "Beware of the threats you make; you may have to fulfill them someday."
Her eyes burned hatefully into his, and she spat, "Get out of here, daija."
He didn't say another word, but turned and continued on his way down the street. Takara slowed her heartbeat, and returned her eyes and hand to the human illusion. But she couldn't hide the hatred she felt, and she trembled with it as she watched him walk away.
When she finally had control of herself again, she lowered her head and said, "Makoto-kun, Miyo-chan, come. I have much to tell you."