Moonlit Encounter:
A Tale of Dogs & Wolves
By: ChocolateEclar
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any other character from the anime/manga "Inuyasha." So don't try to sue me. ^___^
Claimer: I own Koinu (Nobara), Shirakaba, Yu (Yousukou), Hime (Yuck!), Mashiro, Itoshii, Haipaa, Koishii and her children, all of Yu's younger siblings and cousins, and the Shinrin Twins (Yaki and Karasubairo).To eX Driver Liz: Thanks a lot. Sorry about the wait.
To kyu-bi: Thank you!
To Anandria: Yea, Hime's not quite as bad as you though. ^__^ Thank you again!
To TetsuoTsubushi: Thanks a bunch! Here's the last chapter!
To opal eyes: *laughs* Now, now, no need to order me around. ^_- Thanks for reviewing!
A/N: Hmmm… My reason for not updating? Well, I'm lazy. *laughs* Oh yea and school started and I came up with an idea for a Harry Potter fanfic that I had to write down. My muse was going to murder me if I didn't. ^_^ Aren't those good enough reasons not to kill me?
Reviewers: *glare* *chuck heavy objects at Choccy*
Choccy: @_@ G-Guess not. Well here's chapter 13… It's under Koinu's POV. It's the last chapter by the way. *hides*
Afterwards: A Pup's Parable
Not long afterwards Shippou contacted Myouga the flea youkai who informed us of someone that could help me control my youkai self. Her name was Karasubairo Shinrin and was the same mutt youkai we had met only days before. She lived in a cottage about ten miles outside Tokyo where she created pendants with magic potencies. Their abilities ranged from protective powers to increased offensive skills.
I visited her with Shippou (who led the way using directions Myouga had given him over the phone), my 'tousan and 'kaasan, Shi, and Yu. Yabai Kiba was there sitting outside on the front porch of the cabin, his long, dark hair framing his face. I felt a growl escape my lips for I still hadn't forgiven him for hurting Yu.
Yabai looked up, his jade eyes emotionless. "Karasu's expecting you," he barked at me.
I bared my fangs and followed the others up to the front door. Shippou knocked and stepped back as the door was pulled open by the assassin's tsuin. Karasu was as beautiful as I remembered, her hair as dark as Yabai's. Hers reached her waist though and she was far warmer. She smiled, her eyes twinkling. From the battle against Lady Torafu's army she had acquired a thin scar down her cheek. "Come inside, ignore Yaki. He's just in his usual fowl mood," she greeted us, grinning merrily at her tsuin.
She led us inside. Warmth was abundant in the air even though there was no electricity and the fireplace was empty. Shelves lined the walls with bottles filled with spices and glittering fangs. Garlic and other dried herbs hung from the rafters and a bed lay in the corner covered in an azure quilt. We each sat in a wooden chair facing Karasu, who picked up a deep red box that lay on a worktable in a corner of the only room of the lodge.
She sat down in another chair and said to me, "I figured you would need my services, Nobara." She smiled at the look that had crossed my face at the mention of my real name and continued, "You see, like you, my brother and I both are in need of a way to keep our animalistic natures in check. I no longer need the pendent my okaasan created for me long ago, but Yaki does and still wears it." I was reminded of the fang pendent that hung from a cord around Yabai's neck and nodded. "I have one for you, Nobara. This was mine and I wish it to be yours," added Karasu.
She opened the box and we all looked inside. Nestled within, on top of a white cloth was a silver chain with a curved fang attached to it. Karasu gave the box to me and I pulled the necklace over my neck. It rested against my chest, glittering in the sunlight that was filtering through the windows.
"Its as affective as my uncle's Tetsusaiga on you, Inuyasha," said Karasu, smiling. I looked up and at my 'tousan who was looking at Karasu as puzzledly as the rest of us, his dark eyebrows up. "My uncle," clarified Karasubairo, "was Toutousai the creator of the Tetsusaiga and Tenseiga. He and my okaasan were kyoudai and each had a craft. He, as many of you know, was a craftsman in the art of sword forging while my okaasan was a jeweler. She created both my brother and my pendants using her knowledge of jewelry and my otousan's knowledge of sorcery. I learned both and now create pendants such as these."
"Has Toutousai passed away?" inquired my 'kaasan.
"Yes," replied Karasu, nodding solemnly. "He died fifty-four years past."
We talked for some time and about dinnertime Yabai came in complaining about "lazy wenches." Karasu snarled at him, her green eyes fiery emeralds. Then she turned to us and invited us to eat with them ignoring Yabai's protests. I laughed. From then on Karasu was my friend for the rest of my life.
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Four years later Shi was dating Ouka, who I liked due to her gentle and easy-going mannerisms. Around this time Yu and I were married. Everyone was present including Karasu, Uncle Souta, Kouga, Mashiro, most of the urufu tribe including all of Yu's kyoudai, and my obaasan and hiijiji. Ouka was my flower girl and even Uncle Sesshoumaru was present. He and my 'tousan bickered causing my 'kaasan to threaten bodily injury.
Hime was present as well, leaning against a wall chatting with Kyuukai, her ninjen boyfriend. He was more like her mate now. I had met him and he seemed nice enough, but perhaps a little sadistic like Hime.
I could feel my heart flipping in anxiety as I walked up the aisle, my long white dress sweeping the floor. My nervousness vanished after the kiss though, naturally leaving me in a rather more contented and joyous mood. Afterwards, at the reception, Shi teased me, calling me old. I thumped him on the head playfully, whispering, "You'll be up in this position soon enough," in his ear and looking meaningfully at Ouka. He turned beat red and silenced. Yu and I laughed; he had heard every word with those sensitive ears of his.
I can recall the first time we met that day in the forest clearly.
"This is my father's territory. You're trespassing so leave!" Yu had shouted, jumping out of the trees and directly in front of me.
"I don't care whose land this is? I just wanted to go for a walk," I had snapped defiantly.
"Well, tough," retorted Yu laughingly.
After we had exchanged witticisms and I had turned into a ninjen right in front of him he had blurted out, "You-You're ninjen."
To which I had said, "Obviously, moron."
Yu huffed and snapped, "I was making a statement."
"And a dumb one at that," I had yelled back.
"Weren't you leaving?" Yu had muttered.
I still laugh when I think about that odd meeting.
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A year after Shi and Ouka graduated from college, they were wed. It was a lot like my own wedding, but with me as the Maid of Honor and Shi's furendo, Zat, as the Best Man. I was six months pregnant with my first child then and felt quite like a balloon. My 'tousan and Yu wouldn't stop 'mothering' me and it irritated me to no end.
"I'm not a teinousha. I can take care of myself," I snapped at my otousan during the party following the wedding. I was sitting at a table with my oya, goshujin,* and the newlyweds. "That goes for you too, anata," I said to Yu who chuckled. (A/N: Husband*)
"Yes, we understand, 'O Independent One,' " humored Yu, giving me a light kiss on my forehead. I felt the familiar wave of happiness that always went through me when he touched me. I weaved among his thoughts, nestling in the memories of us.
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Yu gave up his role as future leader of Kouga's clan and Hime refused the position as well, to everyone's surprise, and lived with Kyuukai till his death. So, in the end, the duty was given to Nyuuriidaa, Yu's oldest younger kyoudai.Only three months after Shi and Ouka's wedding, I gave birth to a bebii boy who Yu and I named Shouraizou and nicknamed 'Shou.' He had my golden eyes and dark tresses and my Yu's long tail and pointed ears. Due to Yu's full youkai blood and my quarter youkai blood we soon discovered Shou was a hanyou. He would become a wonderful otousan and an employee under Uncle Sesshoumaru.
My okaasan and otousan adored him, playing with him and buying him toys. And when Ouka delivered a bebii girl dubbed Mabui, my oya did the same thing once again. Mabui looked quite a bit like Shi and had white curls and golden eyes.
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I always wore the necklace Karasu gave me and almost never took it off. Karasu made one for each of my kodomotachi. She even produced one for Mabui even though she was only an eighth youkai. Each one was fashioned from a youkai's fang and hung from a silver string. It soon became a family tradition, as years went by, to give one of the necklaces to each child in our family when they became seven years old.
Our second child was born five years after Shou and was a girl entitled Houseki. She had dark brown hair like her otousan with my golden eyes. She later became an artist of mosaics; her paintings lively and filled with urufu and golden eyed shape shifters. She gave me one of her watercolor pictures for my birthday one year. It was of a chocolate-colored urufu with cerulean eyes and a woman with golden eyes and dark hair embracing him with a forest and mountain in the distance. To this day I still keep that painting above our mantel.
She painted a picture of Shou when she was twenty-three. It was gorgeous with his swirling aureate eyes just as they really were and his seemingly permanent smile on his handsome face. It had the full moon in the background. The full moon was the time in which Shou changes into a ninjen and you could, if you knew what to look for, just see the beginning of his eyes transforming into brown ones towards their edges. It really was special to us.
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Over the next few years, little changed. My 'kaasan continued to teach and my 'tousan still worked with Uncle Sesshoumaru who remained virtually the same, though he did have a soft spot for my kodomotachi and I. Houseki made a picture of Uncle Sesshoumaru, which was quite a task considering she had to convince him to pose for it.
I'm still Koinu, but every once and awhile Uncle Sesshoumaru calls me Nobara. I can't say I mind anymore. I mean, I am nearly a hundred years old after all. I don't look over thirty though, which may have boosted my ego a bit. I will die sooner than Yu though being only a quarter youkai.
As for my oya, my okaasan died only three years ago, kind even after the end I'm sure, and otousan passed away a year afterwards, giving me the Tetsusaiga. I hung it up above the picture Houseki painted for me over the fireplace. I miss them terribly and have become even closer to my shuutome, Mashiro, because of it. (A/N: Remember that in "A Bond Across Time" Inuyasha made a wish to die naturally just like a human.)
Ouka died only a month ago and I know Shi will be bleeding inside for some time. Mabui looks older than me, being only an eighth youkai, she will die much sooner than us. I suspect she will live atleast fifty more years though, which will help Shi greatly.
Both Houseki and Shou are married and have four kodomotachi each. Shou's wife is a neko hanyou and so two of their kodomotachi are half youkai like them, while one is full ninjen and one is full youkai (half neko youkai, quarter inu youkai, quarter urufu youkai). It can be a bit confusing to be honest.
Houseki married a ninjen named Jentoruman and all of their kids are girls. She continues to paint and sketch and one of her daughters even acquired her love of art.As for Yu and I, well, I'm expecting another child in several months. Now don't tell Yu. I want it to be a surprise.
^____- *wink*
The End
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A/N: *sigh* So that's it. Sorry again about the wait. ^_^
A/N 2: Word Translations:
Obaasan=grandmother
Hiijiji=great-grandfather
Furendo=friend
Teinousha=imbecile/moron
Oya=parents
Goshujin=husband
Anata=dear (what a wife calls a husband)
Shuutome=mother-in-lawJentoruman=gentleman
Name translations:
Kyuukai=long-cherished hope Nyuuriidaa=new leader Shouraizou=vision of the futureMabui=cute/pretty
Houseki=gem/jewel A/N 3: REVIEWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ^_____^ Choccy and the entire cast of "A Bond Across Time" and "Moonlight Encounter: A Tale of Dogs & Wolves": Sayonara! ^___^(A/N 4: If I feel the need to I'll reply to the final reviews in a mini chapter with just replies.)