Well, this chapter is up thanks to all you who asked for it. Your voices have been heard, and I am so sorry it's been so long. Life kinda exploded after graduation and things just haven't been the same since. :oP I think everything has gotten a little more stable, but I probably would never have gotten around to putting this up if it hadn't been for all the 'Please update!' comments in the past few weeks. Thank you all, I feel very appreciated.

Of course, then I went to read the other chapters and now, months later, they look really bad to me, but - well, that's the way it is. Maybe after I finish the story I will go revise them to take out some of the worst offenses. But for now, here is another chapter. Enjoy. :o)

"Inuyasha."

The dog demon's ears twitched, and he looked toward the eve of the house. He could here footsteps on the wooden walkway that surrounded the house.

"Inuyasha, I'm not sure where you are, but I trust you can here me. Please come here. I promise, this will be short."

Inuyasha hesitated. He waited, but he didn't sense any noise to tell him Yoko was leaving.

"Please. You said you would come."

Inuyasha blew a gusty sigh, and leapt down from the roof. He had the satisfaction of seeing Yoko start at his sudden appearance, but her face brightened quickly.

"Ah, there you are. I looked for you with the others, but Kagome told me you had a weird obsession with heights." She smiled as Inuyasha's eyebrow twitched. "I'm glad you could hear me." Her gaze went to his ears, and then darted away as she realized she was staring. Inuyasha felt a familiar annoyance, remembering how Kagome's mother had molested his ears on their first meeting. Humans are so weird.

"In any case, please come with me. There is another relative I wish you to meet." She paused, studying his face. "Inuyasha, you may be shocked...she is very old, and not at all well."

Inuyasha grunted. "Humans age so quickly."

Yoko's smile looked a little strained. "All the more reason not to waste our youth. Please, follow me." She turned, followed by her ever-present maid. Inuyasha hesitated a moment, and then fell into step behind her as she led him into the house and through the halls.

His nose wrinkled as she stopped before a door, resting her hand against it. "Grandmother? Grandmother, I've brought him..."

"Come," rasped a voice that could barely be heard through the door. Yoko's maid knelt and slid the door aside. Yoko gave Inuyasha an encouraging nod, and he stepped inside.

The light was dim, but his eyes adjusted quickly, and then widened slightly. Lying on a pallet was the oldest living human he had ever seen. Yoko went to the old one's side, and touched her hand. "Grandmother, we're here." Inuyasha inhaled and realized suddenly that beneath the smell of age and decay, this woman's scent was much like Yoko's – and even more like his mother's. He stood as if rooted to the ground.

"Inuyasha," the woman's head turned toward him. "Forgive my old eyes. Are you Inuyasha, the son of my sister Otama?"

Inuyasha forgot to breathe. The old woman did not wait for a response. "I am Oshin, the youngest of three daughters, and the only one yet living. Yoko is the daughter of my son." A claw-like hand lifted and patted Yoko's. "I am well pleased with her." Yoko smiled, and then rose to stand by Inuyasha.

"She is dying," Yoko said in a whisper so soft it was barely more than a breath, as if it were not obvious. Oshin could not possibly have heard, but her eyes tracked towards them anyway.

"It is nothing short of a miracle that I have lived this long, and I cannot help but think it has been for this day." The old woman took a shuddering breath. "Inuyasha, know that your mother, my sister, was very dear to me. Though our father denied her for the shame he felt she brought on our family, I never forgot her – or you."

Inuyasha shifted his weight nervously, uncomfortable, confined. Yoko placed a gentle hand on his arm. He flinched, not in the least comforted.

Oshin's bleary eyes roved across the ceiling. "You have questions, I know, but my strength is not what it used to be, so I ask you, be patient and listen to what I have to say. Inuyasha, I know beyond doubt that your mother loved you very dearly. When I learned of her death, I begged my father to let me come to you, but he refused. When I tried to steal a horse and seek you in secret, he found me stopped me. I was not even allowed to attend my sister's funeral. My father was a stubborn, proud man, and he loved his children, but my sister's defiance hurt him deeply. He would not acknowledge you, but I will. You are my sister's son, whom she loved, and we who loved her love you also. Your family should not have treated you so harshly. Inuyasha, I do not even dare ask your forgiveness."

Silence hung heavy for a moment in the air, punctuated only by Oshin's raspy breathing. Inuyasha found himself totally without words, devoid almost of feeling – except for a deep, urgent desire to be somewhere else.

"Yoko," Oshin's eyes opened once more. "Yoko, in that chest...there, the heavy one. There is a package wrapped in blue cloth. Take it out and give it to him." Yoko nodded to her servant, and the girl did as the old woman instructed. Inuyasha took the bundle numbly. The scents rising from it were old, and bone-jarringly familiar. His hands trembled.

"I have kept all of your mother's letters for all of these years. I fear they are all the legacy I have to leave you. I know you must have ever doubted, Inuyasha, so take them, and learn your mother's true feelings, for both you, and your father." Her eyes closed. "Soon Yoko will be the last of your family, until her child is born. Please do not hold our neglect against her. You also are the last of Yoko's living relatives. Perhaps you two can mend our broken family, and comfort each other." She sighed a shuddering breath. "Yoko, I'm so tired..."

"Yes, grandmother. Rest, and we will come again tomorrow." Yoko knelt and tucked the blankets more securely around the old woman, smoothing her thin hair back with her gentle hands. Then she rose and nudged Inuyasha towards the door. He did not need to be urged twice.

As soon as he was clear of the door Inuyasha turned and bolted down the hallway toward the room he and his friends had been given. The serving girl gave a startled cry as he shoved past her, but Yoko neither called after him nor tried to follow him.

The room was empty as he burst into it, littered with the belongings of his companions. Inuyasha's eyes darted around the room, and fell on Kagome's large yellow pack. He crossed the room in three strides, and shoved the parcel as far in as he could.

Another leap took him to the windowsill, and then up onto the roof. He threw himself down, ignoring the hard tile under his back, and tried to quell the panic rising inside of him. That the documents were real, there could be no doubt. Neither time nor storage nor even the stench of ink had been able to completely erase the one scent that was untainted in his memories with bitterness and anger. The scrolls in the bundle had indeed been written by his mother's own hand.

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I had to make some assumptions about various things to make the age here work, but I think it does. Yoko's grandmother has to be close to a hundred, though, and I'm sure that wasn't an easy thing to manage back in the feudal era. But I needed it for my story, and I say it works, so there. ;oP