Chapter Five:
Hiroshi the Auru
Sesshoumaru opened his eyes and found himself lying on something soft without his shirt. His right shoulder ached, and he looked down to see a bandage wrapped around it.
"Ah, so you're finally awake, my friend."
Looking up, he saw the youkai who had been in the crowd, but he no longer looked like a human. He had short light blue hair and dark blue eyes as well as very pale skin. He looked middle aged, and Sesshoumaru guessed him to be around six to seven hundred years old. He was an auru [owl] youkai; they weren't very powerful, but it was said they had odd powers and could make powerful youkai succumb with simple charms. Sesshoumaru knew now how true that was.
The inu didn't speak. He sat up slightly, shifted his legs to a more comfortable position, and stared at the wall in front of him. The auru was clearly amused.
"You certainly are a spectacle, inu youkai," he said. "I have not seen such a public display of youkai power for over a hundred years."
Sesshoumaru remained silent. He felt dishonored by the fact that he had succumbed to not only a mere auru youkai, but weak humans as well. He shifted his sore arm. When did the humans learn how to defend themselves with such weapons? A bow and arrow he could handle, but these sticks that shot fire were different.
"You don't have to keep up the silent treatment with me, inu. I'm not going to hurt you. My name is Hiroshi."
Silence.
"Ahem. I said my name is Hiroshi. A polite response would be to tell me your name."
Again, silence. Then, the auru heard a quiet response.
"My name is Sesshoumaru. I am…I was the inu taishou, the youkai lord of the Western Lands."
Hiroshi raised an eyebrow. "Interesting. I have heard of you, Sesshoumaru-sama. But I was not aware you were still alive."
"I do not believe I was until a day ago. I am not completely sure, but I think I have been dead."
Hiroshi gave him a look full of caution and confusion. "Um, I'm not sure I follow."
"I don't understand it," Sesshoumaru admitted quietly. For a moment he wondered why he was speaking to this lower youkai, but he knew Hiroshi had information, and he needed information. His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "I am positive that when I awoke yesterday, I was in the burial chambers of my castle."
"Interesting…what do you remember beyond that?"
Sesshoumaru's brow creased slightly as he tried to remember. "A fight. A fight over my lands…a daija youkai. He was too powerful. I transformed into my true form, and he did as well. He wrapped his long body around mine and crushed my bones, and then…and then I woke up yesterday."
Hiroshi walked over and sat at the side of the bed. "Apparently, you were killed in that fight. Though I don't understand how you could be alive again."
"I must find the inu taishou."
The auru youkai sighed. "Sesshoumaru-sama, there is no such thing as a youkai lord anymore. We are very few and far between now, and spend our lives among the ningen, using different charms to alter our appearances. I don't know how long you were dead, but I can assure you, things have changed. You cannot simply go through the city in your own form and threaten ningen."
Sesshoumaru looked back down at his wounded shoulder. Suddenly furious, he tore the bandage away. The wound was nothing but a scar at that point, and soon would no longer be visible. But it still hurt.
"How is it that ningen can harm powerful youkai now?" he growled. "What has changed?"
"Everything, youkai lord," Hiroshi whispered, and Sesshoumaru saw pain in his eyes. "Everything."
And then, he began to tell the story of the past two hundred years.
