Chapter Eleven:

Son of a Youkai and a Ninjen

Ten miles deeper in the forest, a small cabin sat amongst the trees.  In it lived a single lonely person who rarely left the confines of the home, except for a weekly journey into a small town to buy food.

Its inhabitant looked to be about thirty years old, but he was in fact over four hundred.  His hair was long and white, and was kept back in a high ponytail except for a piece on each side of his head that hung down by his face.  His bangs were separate down the middle, and atop his head were two soft white dog ears.  His eyes were gold, and his face usually wore an aggravated expression, though he'd learned to control himself over the years.  In his home, he wore a Feudal Era outfit, identical to the clothes his uncle had worn, except blue instead of red.  His uncle had been none other than Inuyasha, a practically famous hanyou with whom this man had spent many years of his life learning how to control his youkai blood, for he too was a hanyou.

How many years had he lived in seclusion, hiding his face from anyone who might recognize him?  Over a hundred, he knew that much.  After his father had been killed, he had finally felt safe, and had eventually settled and taken a human to be his mate.  But that was over a hundred years ago; his human mate had been dead for nearly a century.  He'd had no children, and now his only relation other than distant cousins was a sister he hadn't seen since she was just a child.  A sister that looked far too much like his father.

His father.  His hands unconsciously balled into fists.  The youkai who had brought him into being had never ceased to tell him how worthless he was.  As if it were his fault he had been born, and was a hanyou instead of a pure youkai.  As if he were to blame for the fact that his mother was a human.

Nothing he did was worth credit.  Nothing he said was worth hearing.  If he wanted his father to hear his opinion, it had to go through his mother.  He would only listen to her…

~Flashback~

"I don't see why I can't go with you."

"It is a matter between youkai," Sesshoumaru practically growled, as though he was insulted by the very idea of speaking to his son.

"I am a youkai!" The young man insisted.

"You are anything but a youkai.  There is a place for hanyous, and they must learn to stay there and not interfere with the work of a true youkai."

"Half of my blood is yours!"

Sesshoumaru turned and glared at him.  "And that was the greatest mistake I ever made.  You will never be a youkai, Inuyoshi.  At least my tanechigai's woman taught him his place – in the dirt.  You would do good to follow his example."

Furious, Inuyoshi struck at his father.  With twice his speed, Sesshoumaru grabbed his wrist and shoved him against the wall.  He went to strike him, when a new voice was heard from the doorway.

"No!  Inuyoshi!"

Sesshoumaru hesitated, and in an instant a human woman the height of his chin had made her way to the youkai lord's side, and was clinging to his arm.  She looked up at Sesshoumaru with hundreds of emotions shining in her eyes.

"Please don't hurt him, Sesshoumaru," she pleaded.  "Please let him go."

The youkai lord glared daggers at his son, before reluctantly letting go of him and stepping back.  The woman stood between them, frightened, but not enough to leave the two of them alone again.

Abruptly, Sesshoumaru turned.  "I leave in ten minutes, Rin.  I will meet you at the main entrance then."

He left, and she looked up at Inuyoshi.  The young man was breathing hard, fury shining in his eyes.  Gently, she touched his cheek.

"Pay no attention to him, Inuyoshi," she said.  "What he says doesn't matter."

"He hates me, okaasan," he spat.  "He absolutely despises me."

"He doesn't hate you, my son.  You just remind him so much of his tanechigai, Inuyasha.  He doesn't want you to be like him."

Inuyoshi didn't respond, and eventually Rin left the room.  He watched out the window as his father departed, and he clenched his teeth.

­~End Flashback~

Inuyoshi had heard that his father had been killed by a daija youkai.  That piece of information was quite possibly the best thing he'd ever heard.  No more criticism.  No more insults.  He could finally live in peace.

Sitting at home, he heard a knock on his door.  Confused as to whom it might be, he opened the door a crack and looked out.  On his doorstep stood a tall man with long black hair streaked with green, and green eyes.  A twisted dark green line ran vertically down his forehead.  He was a youkai.

"I am looking for a man named Inuyoshi," the stranger said.  Now the hanyou was both suspicious and confused.

"I am he," he responded carefully.

"I have a message to deliver for you," the man said.  Inuyoshi's brow creased.

"What is it?"

The stranger smiled.

"This."

A hand flew up to his face, and green poison seeped from his claws.  Inuyoshi reeled back, and suddenly felt his eyes begin to burn.  He yelled in pain, and stumbled backwards, blinded.  His nose told him something that had to be impossible – the poison was Sesshoumaru's poison.  He could recognize that smell anywhere.

Stumbling back from pain and blindness, Inuyoshi tripped and ended up on his knees.  The stranger entered his home, pulled back a clenched fist, and slammed it down on the hanyou's head, knocking him out cold.

Now Takara, the stranger thought, lifting the unconscious hanyou onto his shoulders.  It is your move.