Chapter Ten:

The Pieces Fall Together

"Otousan!"

Everything happened at once.

Sesshoumaru turned towards the voice, and in an instant, stood where Rei had been a split second earlier.  Takara and Rei stared towards the great youkai from where they had been thrown.

Sesshoumaru held Inuyoshi's wrist with one hand, holding Toukijin in place.  He lifted his other wrist to his mouth and tore the charm bracelet off with his teeth, and then dug his poison claws into Inuyoshi's wrist.  The hanyou cried out the cry of an animal as his wrist began to melt.  Golden eyes met blood red eyes.

"I always knew you were worthless," Sesshoumaru hissed before jerking Toukijin from his son's grasp.  "I should have known better than to leave such a powerful weapon to a weak hanyou."

Sesshoumaru slid the sword into his belt, and then lifted Inuyoshi by his neck.  The red in the hanyou's eyes was beginning to fade, and as the gold appeared he gasped in terror at the recognition of his father.  Then, he fainted.

Sesshoumaru dropped his son in a heap, and then turned.  Standing behind him was a woman he knew was Takara despite her current appearance.  She concentrated momentarily, and the human mask fell, revealing her almost identical appearance to his.  She stood almost eye-to-eye with him, tall for a female, and her gold-tinted hair cascaded down her back to nearly the length of his.  They shared identical crescent moon markings on their foreheads, as well as red markings on their eyelids.  Her other markings, the black stripes on her neck, were from her mother, but they didn't make her any less like him.

"Takara," he said softly, then cocked an eyebrow ever so slightly.  "You have many questions to answer."

A small smile appeared on her face.  "I hope I am not in too much trouble, otousan."

She then stepped towards him and placed her hands on his shoulders, and he gave her the tiniest hint of a smile, his eyes telling her more than his mouth ever would be allowed to.

~I am glad you are safe, my daughter,~ he thought as he looked into the eyes that were so similar to his own.

The moment lasted but a second, and he turned to look at the other girl.  Her hat had been thrown off when he'd pushed her out of the way, revealing to him the dog ears that seemed to run in his family.

Stepping closer to her, Sesshoumaru could feel the presence of his family's blood in her veins, mixed with an insane amount of human blood.  The youkai blood that was in her was Inuyasha's.

"He was after you," Sesshoumaru told the girl, startling her.

"Huh?" Rei said stupidly.

"My son.  He has allowed my sword to control him, and was lusting after the blood of Inuyasha that is in you.  He would have killed you."

Rei gasped slightly, looking over at the crumpled form of Inuyoshi.  "But…why?"

"The Toukijin has always thirsted after the blood of Inuyasha.  In the hands of a lesser being," he glanced slightly at the hanyou. "it can possess them, and drive them to insanity searching for his blood."

"But otousan…" Takara started.

"There will be time enough for this later," Sesshoumaru interrupted, slightly amusing Takara at how quickly he took command of them.  "You will take me to wherever it is that you live so that I may be free of the disgusting ningen stench around here."

Takara bowed slightly. "Hai, otousan."

He walked back to Inuyoshi, picked him up by the back collar of his haori, and flung him over his shoulder, while Takara once again picked up Rei.  The two youkai flew into the air, and the taiyoukai led Sesshoumaru to her home.