Chapter Fifteen:
Do I Know You?
"Are you leaving?" Takara asked that evening, seeing Inuyoshi moving towards her door.
"I must return to my home," he replied. "I don't want to burden you."
"Please, stay a little longer. I would like you to meet someone before you go."
Inuyoshi looked outside at the moon, and then nodded. "Alright. I will stay one more day."
* * *
The next day, Takara departed in the afternoon and returned shortly with a young girl who, despite the hidden appearance, Inuyoshi could tell was part youkai. Takara led the girl into her cabin, and she took off her hat, revealing dog ears that looked exactly like his, though black instead of white. She removed colored contacts, and he suddenly found himself looking into slitted golden eyes. Eyes that were very familiar.
Inuyoshi found himself on his knees before the girl, shocked beyond anything. He looked up into her eyes and timidly touched her face with a clawed hand as if he couldn't believe she was really standing in front of him.
"What is your name?" he whispered.
"Rei," she responded, completely confused at the stranger's reaction to her.
"Rei," he repeated, completely taken by the girl. Suddenly, he said, "You are of Inuyasha-sama's blood. I can feel it in you."
Rei's eyes widened. "Inuyasha…that was the name of my grandfather. He was…"
"…a hanyou," Inuyoshi interrupted. "I know."
"How do you…"
Inuyoshi pulled out his ponytail, letting his long white hair fall down his back. He messed up his bangs, and then asked, "Did he look like this?"
She gasped, and knelt in front of him. "You…you look exactly like him!"
"That's because Inuyasha-sama was my uncle, Rei."
"You…you knew my grandfather?"
"I spent most of my life living with him and his son, Kaori."
She gasped again. "He is my otousan!"
Inuyoshi nodded. "Yes, I know. I had wondered for a long time what had happened to Kaori-kun. I lost contact with him soon after Inuyasha-sama's death. He was, in many ways, my oniisan."
Neither of them said anything else, and Inuyoshi looked up at Takara who had been standing off to the side the entire time. "Did you know?" he asked.
"I suspected," she responded. "Her likeness to him is remarkable, and when I asked her about his attacks, she gave me a very good description of the Sankon Tetsusou."
"How do you know Takara-sama?" Rei asked Inuyoshi. He looked back at her.
"She is my tanechigai, Rei-chan," he replied. "She was born of a different mother over a hundred years after I was."
Rei looked towards Takara. "So you knew my grandfather too?"
"Not nearly as well as Inuyoshi did. I only met him a few times."
"Rei-chan," Inuyoshi said suddenly. "Can I meet your otousan?"
Her face suddenly fell, and she looked away from him. "Sadly, that is impossible. Otousan died last year of sickness, and left okaasan and I alone together."
"Iie [No]," Inuyoshi said quietly. "Gomen ne [I'm sorry]."
"Okaasan and I get by alright. She has a very small amount of youkai blood in her, though she doesn't know what type of youkai. But now," She looked up at Takara and smiled. "Now I have Takara-sama to teach me. Will you stay and help her, Inuyoshi-sama?"
"I'm afraid I must return to my home," he responded. His face grew serious. "Rei-chan, no matter who teases you, and no matter who tries to hurt you or outcast you over what you are, remember this – you are a very rare and special creature. You have the blood of both the ninjen and the youkai, and though the pure ninjen and the pure youkai will talk down at you, you have something both of them don't have. You are a ninjen with great power and strength, and you are a youkai with true feelings and compassion. Very few people have that, and that is what makes the hanyous and the demi-youkai so strong. Our kind is very special, and I don't want you to let anyone make you think otherwise."
Takara didn't show it, but Inuyoshi's little speech moved her greatly. It was true that she had barely any true feelings, though she pretended while with her human friends. A true youkai was a cold creature, and an animal at times, while a true ninjen was weak and helpless against dangers.
~It may very well be,~ she thought as she watched Inuyoshi hug Rei close, ~that the hanyous and the demi-youkai are truly the most powerful of us all. They may have weaknesses that pure youkai don't have, but they have strengths many would find unmatchable. Eventually, they will be all that is left of us.~
* * *
The next morning, Inuyoshi departed, his sword at his side and his fur wrapped around his torso. Takara watched as he disappeared into the forest, no longer the same angry hanyou he had been but now, in many ways, much more youkai. He stood tall and regal, and she couldn't help thinking that Sesshoumaru would have been very proud of his son if he had seen him that morning.