The White Dog
by Becky Tailweaver
Chapter 22: Blood-Right
Inuyasha stared up through the branches with a pensive frown, tired and lonely and generally cranky--compounded by the fact that the moon was high in the sky and he was still not sleeping. With one ear cocked in annoyance, he glared at the bright, full crescent and sighed resignedly.
He missed Kagome's scent. He missed sleeping near her. He missed her soft heartbeat in his ears lulling him to sleep like a rhythmic song. He couldn't even get comfortable without her now.
Weary, he sighed again.
"Can't sleep, huh?" Shirokiba said quietly, his voice just carrying from the tree across from his own. "Can I come over?"
Inuyasha snorted.
Shirokiba took that as a tentative yes, making an easy, silent bound over to a branch near Inuyasha's. He settled himself against the trunk and waited--but the young inu-hanyou didn't speak, so Shirokiba took the initiative.
"Nice night."
Inuyasha continued to stare at the stars, not responding. It took a long time for him to decide what to say; he almost thought Shirokiba had nodded off by the time he finally opened his mouth to ask a question that had been nagging him since Kouga left.
"Shirokiba?"
The wolf-dog's reply took a few moments. "Mm?"
"What did you mean earlier--what you said to Kouga? What blood-right were you talking about?"
Shirokiba was silent for a while. "Seibunishi-sama's. And Yuki-Inu's."
"What's that?"
"Yuki-Inu had Wolf blood in him," Shirokiba explained after a yawn, "as did most of the Dogs in that time. The Dog Clans have old ties to the Packs."
"I knew that. But what about my father?"
"The Alpha Pack," Shirokiba said softly, almost reverently. "They're giant white Wolves that live further to the north than you can imagine--beyond the northern mountains where my father's Pack dwells, beyond the northmost forests on the mainland...far away, in a land where the snow never melts and the sky stays dark for months on end. They are the Alpha Pack over all the Wolf Packs--the kings of Wolves. Though no Dog could ever match their strength...there are fewer of them left than even the White Clan."
"Giant wolves, far away, really strong...with you so far," Inuyasha grumbled. "What's it have to do with Oyaji?"
Shirokiba snorted at the hanyou's impatience. "Yuki-Inu, the first White Daimyo, was descended from them. Through that line you're a distant cousin to the white Wolves, which gains you a good chunk of status with the Packs."
"Oh. Well...that's nice."
Shirokiba took a deep breath. "And...Seibunishi-sama..."
"What?" Inuyasha demanded, almost eagerly, surprised to hear there was more.
"He was a wolf-dog, like me," Shirokiba said softly. "Half White Dog...half white Wolf."
It took a few moments for that information to register with the inu-hanyou--and when it did, he glanced up at Shirokiba quickly. "Oyaji was...half Wolf? So...I'm...?"
Shirokiba nodded, chuckling ruefully. "You've got Wolf in you too, little mutt. And not just any Wolf, either--the white Alphas themselves. It's what made Seibunishi-sama so powerful--a living combination of the strongest of two races. And you do take after him..."
Inuyasha sat and stared for a few minutes, rendered speechless by the shock.
The wolf-dog beside him chuckled at his expression. "There's more to you than you thought, eh?" he said ironically. "Ningen and youkai, Wolf and Dog--you're practically a prince."
"Don't...don't say stuff like that," Inuyasha barked, but his shocked state made for a complete lack of conviction in his voice. "Why didn't you ever tell me any of this? All of it--why didn't you say anything when I stayed with you?" As his shock faded, his tone became accusatory.
Shirokiba frowned, shrugging almost guiltily. "I didn't think you'd need to know any of it yet. I didn't think it would become important for a long time."
"It's important to me," Inuyasha snapped. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"If I'd have told you then, your head would have swelled so big you'd have floated away," Shirokiba retorted quickly, his voice rough. "I taught you what you needed to survive! I didn't think you'd need to know until much later in your life that you're the single most pivotal person to the major Houses, Clans, and Packs of three different races! Forgive me if I thought teaching you to stay out of danger and fight off enemies and feed yourself was more important than--!"
Catching himself in his outburst, the wolf-dog growled softly and looked away--while Inuyasha stared anew, once again trying to digest Shirokiba's information.
"I...didn't mean to..." the hanyou stammered, a lame attempt at apology.
"Never mind," Shirokiba told him, gentling once more. "It's not your fault, mutt. I didn't really mean to hide it...it just...never really came up, and then you left. It's all going to come up now anyway, with Ginnezu and the Clans raising a fuss..."
Inuyasha glanced down, still wondering. "Shirokiba...how do you know so much about my father, anyway? I didn't think you were that close to the Clans."
Shirokiba sighed, staring at the stars. "My mother met my father when he was on the rebound; he'd just lost his lifemate, he was grieving, and it was easy for her to manipulate him. He meant nothing to her, and still doesn't...but the way of Wolves isn't like the way of Dogs. A Dog father may not know or care how many pups he has; he may have several mates and never love any of them. Among Wolves, when you take a mate, it's for life--and if you sire cubs, they are your responsibility no matter what."
"You're not answering my question," Inuyasha growled, shifting on the branch.
Shirokiba glared at him. "I will if you shut up. You want to know about your heritage--keep your jaws clamped and let me finish."
"Fine, fine...sheesh, sorry..."
"Thank you," Shirokiba muttered sarcastically, then continued in a clearer voice. "Dogs are the only class of youkai who are born of a creature that is not wild," he stated. "Unlike every other animal-based youkai breed, Dogs are...how shall I put it? Domesticated."
Inuyasha sat up off the branch, ramrod-straight. "What?"
Shirokiba laughed softly at his reaction. "Like the first wolves who came in from the snow to sit by the fires of man, so too did a few of the Yourouzoku of millenia past bind themselves to humankind and become inu-youkai."
"Humans?"
"They served humans."
"How in the seven hells--?" Inuyasha snorted. "Why...?"
"It was a partnership of sorts," Shirokiba explained quietly. "For reasons long forgotten, a few Wolf Packs allied themselves with humankind, and went with them into battle--each Wolf with his Man, lifelong companions, bound by a link deep in their souls. When they rode forth, they rode forth as one, the Man on the back of the Wolf, to conquer their enemies. These ningen tribes became very powerful, and the Wolves--who became Dogs--prospered alongside them."
Inuyasha was honestly enthralled, but he managed a snort in his usual fashion. "Sure don't see that today."
"No...there was some kind of falling-out, long ago," the wolf-dog continued, shrugging. "No one knows what happened. However, the Dogs were so changed by their centuries of alliance that they could no longer rejoin the Wolves, so they remained forever apart from their wild cousins."
"So what's this have to do with my father?"
"It could mean everything, if you understand it properly," Shirokiba replied. "I think your birth depended on it."
"Huh? How?" Inuyasha set his chin in his hands, listening raptly.
"There are some who call the Dogs 'mind-blind'--and rightly so; compared to the Wolves, Dogs have few and frail powers of telepathy and sensitivity." Shirokiba fought off a yawn, keeping his voice steady. "Humans, on the other hand, have great capacity for that sort of power, but in most cases they lack the ability to actualize it. It was the mental symbiosis of a Dog and his Man that created a formidable warrior on all planes--not just the physical. Together, they could achieve feats that alone they could never accomplish. This relationship helped give the Dog race its great strength, and their power prospered far greater than the Wolves."
"Is that why Dogs are so much bigger?" Inuyasha asked curiously.
"Hm. Greater in size, in strength..." Looking up at the stars, Shirokiba at last gave in to the yawn that nagged him. "But even today, many Dogs live their lives in destructive viciousness because they have no human with them. There is an emptiness, a loneliness within each of them--a hole seeking that which will fill it, and their constant hidden pain prods them to violence. And that, little mutt, is the truth behind what I referred to as domestication."
"Like a cur needs his master," Inuyasha snorted, half disgusted. "So the Dogs--inu-youkai like Sesshomaru--act like vicious bastards and slaughter things because they don't have a human partner? What a laugh!"
"Oh? I seem to recall that you were a rather vicious bastard until you met Kikyo and Kagome."
Inuyasha's head snapped up, struck speechless.
Shirokiba sighed again and went on, ignoring the hanyou's reaction. "Wolves form similar mental bonds with their lifemates, not a battle partner--and the Wolf's bond is much stronger. Wolves can't usually form a bond outside their own species, so wolf-dogs like Seibunishi-sama and I are rare--because most ookami-youkai will not mate with anyone but their bonded partner."
"Guess it only happens when somebody gets desperate enough," Inuyasha grumbled unthinkingly.
Shirokiba only snorted in response. "Wolf-dogs bear the Wolf's ability to form powerful, soul-binding links...yet they still have the Dog's need for human companionship." He sighed again. "Most wolf-dogs I ever heard of ended up taking human mates--and they bond to them with more intensity than either of the two races. I've long since resigned myself to that, unless I'm lucky enough to find a youkai female my soul decides to latch on to."
Inuyasha blinked in sudden realization. "Ofukuro--!"
"Your mother was human," Shirokiba agreed. "Your father bonded with her, and took her to be his lifemate. She was his soul-bond and his partner--his mate and his other half. She gave him strength and stability, while he protected and provided for her--a Dog and his human, a Wolf and his mate."
"But...but...what about Sesshomaru?"
That query certainly came out of the blue; Shirokiba laughed aloud, surprised that the hanyou would even consider his half-brother. "You're never gonna believe this--Yukishima-sama won him."
"Won him? What the hell does that mean?"
"Centuries before your mother was ever even born," Shirokiba related, "Yukishima challenged Seibunishi-sama to a duel--it was something done back then amongst ruling families...but usually about policies of state or questions of status. Anyway, the wager was that if he won, her House would forever swear fealty to the White Daimyo's line and never challenge them again. But if she won, Seibunishi-sama would be obligated to sire her a pup."
Inuyasha blinked and stared. "And...Oyaji lost?"
"Well," Shirokiba chuckled ruefully, "it was back when your father was a young hot-head--a lot like you--and not as powerful and experienced as he thought he was. So yeah, he lost--Yukishima-sama was much older and stronger at the time. I heard stories that your grandmother Seiyuki-sama was seriously pissed about it, especially since Seibunishi-sama accepted the challenge without consulting her--but it was an honor-bound oath. He put Yukishima off as long as he could, but almost two hundred and fifty years ago, she finally held him to it."
"Holy shit!" Inuyasha breathed. "You're right--I almost don't believe it. She won Sesshomaru like a prize in a coin toss!" He bit his lip to keep from laughing aloud. "That arrogant bastard...!"
"Rumor has it she thought she'd be able to get her claws on Seibunishi-sama's position by bearing his firstborn," Shirokiba chuckled, "but she apparently didn't know that the White Dog Daimyo alone among all the other Clan leaders has the right to choose his heir out of all of his get. Seibunishi-sama was not required to pass his title to his eldest son...and Sesshomaru didn't have what he wanted to see in a leader of his people."
"So...he chose me...?"
"When you were barely minutes old and your cubfur was still wet," Shirokiba replied quietly. "I was there when he held you up before all the Clan Daimyos and declared you his true heir. You should have seen Yukishima's face--there was murder in her eyes that day. I think she'd already set herself to get rid of you, and you weren't even an hour old."
Inuyasha blinked. "How did you get in to see the ceremony? I thought you had to be...uh, important."
"Don't you remember? My mother is the Gray Daimyo's youngest daughter. I was there with the Daimyo of the Gray Clan, the head of my mother's family," the wolf-dog told him. "And beyond that, Seibunishi-sama himself invited me. I waited outside the chamber door with the other Daimyos; we were there as witnesses--we all heard your first cry when you were born, and then Seibunishi brought you out to us." Shirokiba's eyes went slightly distant with memory, and he smiled. "I wasn't allowed into the Council Chamber to see the official ceremony, but Seibunishi-sama was so excited he was proud to tell everyone there."
Inuyasha glanced sideways at him. "Just how well did you know Oyaji?"
"Well enough," Shirokiba chuckled. "He let me hold you after the ceremony."
"You knew me before you found me," Inuyasha stated, wide-eyed.
"I did," the wolf-dog admitted sadly. "For only a short time, before Seibunishi-sama had to send you and your mother away. And when I found you again, and realized who you were...I couldn't believe it was you. I...didn't even know that Seibunishi-sama had died. He was so strong when I'd last seen him...I couldn't believe he had just...wasted away..."
Inuyasha saw Shirokiba's bleak expression. "You must have been friends."
"I heard that my father tried to be there for me, as he felt obligated," Shirokiba explained darkly, "but he was driven out by the Gray Dogs--I never got a chance to see him when I was a pup. To my mother, I was the inconvenient side-effect of her short-term amusement--a nuisance that she left to be raised by servants, hidden away in the Gray Clan's stronghold so that no one would know of her shame. I would never dare to say that she loved me."
"That's...cruel," Inuyasha gulped. He had known pain and loss and hatred in his lifetime--but never could he imagine being tossed aside like that, unwanted by his own mother...
"There is little love among the Dog Clans, Inuyasha--kindness is rare indeed." Shirokiba glanced away, clearing his throat to continue his tale. "I lived for years hidden in the Gray Clan's halls--until my grandfather learned of my existence, and commanded that I at least be given a name and acknowledged as a scion of his House. But as soon as I was old enough, my mother cast me off and I was alone in the Clan halls, living with the scorn of being half Wolf. But I was lucky--my grandfather was one of the kind ones, and when he saw how I was treated in the Gray territory, he brought me with him to the High Stone, and there introduced me to Seibunishi-sama himself."
"I was just a teenage pup when Seibunishi-sama took me under his wing," Shirokiba continued. "And I lived there at the High Stone with the White Clan from then on. We were close; we shared a lot in common--both wolf-dogs, and I had to learn how to live with that. He was the one who really taught me everything I know--everything I taught you. He was the one who taught me how to be a true Dog--showed me what courage and loyalty meant, how important honor is, the things that are really worth fighting for..."
Once again, Shirokiba's eyes were distant, his face touched by a fond smile. "He was the one who helped me find my father, and let us know each other--my father was never driven away from the High Stone, and knowing him helped me understand the other half of myself. From him, I learned how to be a Wolf--I ran with my father, with our Pack, and they welcomed me as one of them, and I discovered that, despite their wildness, their ideals of family, pride, and valor weren't all that different from what Seibunishi-sama had taught me.
"But...even if I did know my father," Shirokiba went on softly, when his reverie was finished, "I still owe the most to Seibunishi-sama. He damn near raised me himself...and...when I found you, I thought that the very least I could do was return the favor."
Inuyasha stared at his old friend and mentor, shocked beyond belief at the depth of history between his own past and Shirokiba's--at how his life had intertwined with the wolf-dog's even before his birth. Shirokiba had raised him not because of pity, but out of love and respect for Seibunishi, because the White Daimyo had been a parent and mentor to him.
"So...why didn't you tell me any of this?" he husked at last.
Shirokiba shrugged uncomfortably. "It was past--over and gone. You were too young to burden with my history back then--and I have my own painful memories too. You're not the only one who's suffered in the past century; Seibunishi-sama was the nearest thing to foster-father to me--it hurt to lose him. And I'm not the only one, either--hell...if you knew half of what Sesshomaru went through because of you, your mother, and Yukishima, you'd spare a little pity for him. He carries the same Wolf blood you do--but he has to bear a different kind of stigma."
"Keh! I'll never understand him."
"You may think Sesshomaru is horrible, but you've never met many other inu-youkai," the wolf-dog told him warningly. "There are a lot of other Dogs much worse than he is. Take Yukishima--she was pissed as hell when the Dogs found out you were still alive, and that was a scary day in the halls of the High Stone. If you had been dead, her son could claim the title of Taiyoukai of the West and White Daimyo simply by blood-right alone."
"But I'm still alive," Inuyasha snorted. "Pity."
"Yes, you're alive," Shirokiba agreed. "And in her way. She's dangerous--even now, she's still dangerous. The only thing keeping her away from you is the fact that the Clan Daimyos would have her hide if they found out she harmed you. Seibunishi-sama's word is powerful, even after all this time."
"I hate politics."
Shirokiba snorted in laughter. "So do I, little mutt."
Inuyasha grimaced. "'Mutt.' I always hated you calling me that--I thought it you did it just because I'm hanyou. But...I guess it's because I'm part Wolf, too--a real mongrel."
"You can't look at yourself that way," Shirokiba said softly, reassuringly. "You're much more than you think--the offspring of Dog and Wolf is said to be more dangerous than either parent. That's easy to understand--Dogs have fierce hearts but are human-oriented; their fierceness shows toward animals, other youkai, and even their own kind. Wolves have gentle hearts but are not human-oriented; a human means no more to them than does a kitsune, but they are much more tolerant of other species, even of prey species when they're not hungry. You're a wolf-dog, too--not exactly like me, but you take strongly after your father's blood, and the white Wolf in him."
Inuyasha gazed at his friend, eyes wide with curiosity.
Shirokiba looked up at the stars, his voice calm and serious. "If the combination occurred of a Dog's fierce heart and a Wolf's indifference, that youkai would be ruthless."
"Sesshomaru," Inuyasha breathed, swallowing.
"But the opposite combination is possible, too--a Wolf's solicitude, intensity, ability, and intelligence, combined with a Dog's human orientation, unbending courage, protectiveness, and loyal heart. Then you get a youkai that has the spark of greatness." Shirokiba's blue-gold eyes trapped his gaze and held it. "Like you, Inuyasha."
Inuyasha's breath caught, and he stared at Shirokiba with something akin to amazement. Greatness? He, Inuyasha--a mongrel whelp, half human and part Wolf? The only name had was a forgotten title passed down from a long-dead sire, and the shameful label of hanyou; the only name he could make for himself was written in blood drawn by his own claws, stained red by the lives--the deaths--of his enemies. There was no real greatness in that.
His inner turmoil must have shown on his face, for Shirokiba regarded him kindly, understandingly. "You're more like your father than you know, kid--I see more of him in you every day. That's probably half the reason the Dog Clans fear you--they know that if you ruled them you'd make them do what's right, like your father did. You have his heart--I know it. You've just tried to bury it under years of hate and pain."
"But...Oyaji..."
Shirokiba chuckled softly. "He'd be pleased with you, despite what you've done in the past. What you're doing now, for Kagome and for this land...if he were here now, I know just what he'd do--he'd take you by the shoulders, look into your eyes, and say, 'I'm proud of you, son.'"
Inuyasha swallowed, reisisting the sudden, inexplicable tears that attempted to rise in his eyes. He tried hard--so hard--to imagine what it might be like to feel his father's strong grip on his shoulders, to see the kindness and love in his eyes, to hear the warmth and pride in his voice. The tears he held back nearly welled up on him when he realized he could not picture his father at all--he had no memory of him, no knowledge to draw upon.
"I wish...I'd known him."
Shirokiba heard the broken catch to the young hanyou's voice. "I wish you had, too--he did that so many times for me, and it always meant so much. He was such a good father that I couldn't believe Sesshomaru turned out the way he did...but Yukishima raised him herself; she didn't let Seibunishi-sama get too close."
Inuyasha managed a disgusted snort. "To hear him talk, he's the precious golden child and I'm the blot on the family record."
"I think part of Sesshomaru's hatred of you is a deep, abiding jealousy of what you had," Shirokiba explained patiently, almost sadly. "Seibunishi-sama held you in his arms and rocked you, he sang to you and carried you with him when he went about--he loved you so much it was joyful to see the two of you together. Sesshomaru never had that, even if he wanted it--and ever since his mother cast him off, he's had no one. I can understand a bit of where he's coming from."
Inuyasha found it hard to grasp that Sesshomaru might be jealous of him for something other than the Tetsusaiga. Yet at the same time, he longed to remember his days of infancy, whether or not Sesshomaru was present in those memories--f only to recall a shadow of his father's face, a whisper of his voice. "So...Oyaji sang, huh?"
Shirokiba took a deep breath and hummed softly--a slow, deep, haunting melody reminiscient of the wind at night and the glow of the moon, with rough overtones that gave voice to the race that created it. When he opened his mouth and broke out in song, the lyrics told of a safe warm den on a cold night and the assurance of pack and love.
Through Shirokiba's dusky voice, Inuyasha found his mind supplying him with the words to the song, though he was sure he'd never heard it before...and then another voice was singing, far inside him--a deep, low voice full of gentle canine roughness and thrumming warmth.
Inuyasha gasped, realizing that the faint thread was his father's song--but his noise of surprise and joy broke the spell; Shirokiba stopped, and the sliver faded.
"I--I remember..." Inuyasha whispered.
Shirokiba gazed at him for long minutes, letting the young hanyou stare off into space--watching him desperately try to grasp that wisp of memory and hold on to it. His heart wrung in pity once more as he saw the kaleidoscope of emotion play across the hanyou's face--grief, regret, abandonment, loneliness. Inuyasha wanted badly to have known his father's love.
When the hanyou finally sighed, giving up, Shirokiba cleared his throat and spoke--to change the subject, hopefully to something less painful, and preferably back to what they'd started on. "You know," he began lightly, "you still ought to understand how Wolves pair-bond. Dogs never do, and you're mostly inu-youkai, but there's enough Wolf in you to make a bond permanent. But you've got ningen in you, too, and I don't even know what that might do."
Inuyasha sounded scornful, but his face was still pensive at the events surrounding Shirokiba's short song. "What's so special about this bonding crap?"
"Most sentient creatures with higher-than-average mental abilities form bonds when they take a mate. The general population of inu-youkai are one of the few exceptions to the rule--along with most humans."
"But you just said--"
"The humans who once paired with the Dogs are the ancestors of most ningen with supernatural ability," Shirokiba informed him. "I'd have to guess that Kagome and your old friend Kikyo are probably both descended from those Dog allies, who spread out over the land with time and used their gifts to become miko, houshi, taijiya--all manner of things."
Inuyasha frowned, looking down without speaking. He knew only a little about that sort of thing--mostly from his mother.
"You'll find someone that you will bond yourself to--and instinct won't give you much of a choice," Shirokiba told him flatly. "Whether she's human or not, you'll be connected to that woman--heart, mind, and soul. With your mixed heritage, I'm not sure how strong it will be or how deep it might go, but there's little you can do to stop it...and from what I've heard, it's irrevocable--save in death."
Inuyasha didn't reply; he could easily guess what Shirokiba was silently asking: What about Kagome? The hanyou himself didn't know--what he felt for Kagome, and for Kikyo as well...it was all very, very painfully complicated. "Is it because of the Wolf?"
"Pretty much." Shirokiba shifted to a more comfortable position on the branch. "Wolves always bond with their lifemates."
Inuyasha didn't look up. The conversation was becoming entirely too scary; the idea of helplessly bonding to some female--human or otherwise--was making him nervous, on top of his roughed-up emotions from talking about his father. So he cleared his throat and boldly changed the subject, hopefully to something Shirokiba would be willing to shift the topic to.
"You know, I've never seen Kouga act like that before. How did you get him to retreat, anyway?"
"Act like--? Oh...I guess that's my influence," the wolf-dog laughed. "I'm one of the few people he doesn't talk back to...well, seriously, anyway. The whole big brother thing, you know."
"Heh."
"What's your problem with each other, though?" the wolf-dog asked. "I don't understand why you two were so hostile."
"He just is," Inuyasha grumbled, miffed that his subject-changing had turned around on him.
"Seems to me you were, too--"
"Look, I don't know why I get so freaking mad when he's around!" Inuyasha exploded, sitting up off the tree branch. "I just can't stand him being anywhere near me--or Kagome! Besides the fact that he insults me every damn time he shows up, he pisses me off just by existing!"
Shirokiba turned his head to look at the irate hanyou. "Jealous, huh?"
Inuyasha's anger turned to splutters.
"You do know why you hate him--you think he's going to get between you and Kagome," Shirokiba said shrewdly, trying not to smile at the growing blush on the hanyou's cheeks. "After all, he is a perfectly viable candidate for her affections--and he looks like me, which means she couldn't possibly resist--"
"Shut up! Shut the hell up!" Inuyasha's snarl was dangerous.
"Easy, kid, easy! I was just teasing!" Shirokiba said quickly, with a placating gesture. He hadn't really meant anything by his little jest, but the hanyou's intense sensitivity confirmed his suspicions.
Inuyasha growled at him and leaned back against the tree trunk again. He didn't know how, but Shirokiba had just deftly steered the conversation right back to where it had been before, to a subject he wanted to avoid--women.
"What are you worried about, anyway?" Shirokiba asked softly. "I don't think Kagome's that fickle."
"She was nice to him," Inuyasha grumped. "And she wouldn't let me kill him."
"I'll have to thank her for that," Shirokiba said dryly. "Kagome's nice to me, and I don't see you trying to tear my throat out."
"You're different. You didn't say you loved her."
Shirokiba actually looked surprised. "He said that? To her?"
Inuyasha growled. "Repeatedly."
"Did she reciprocate?"
"No."
"Then what's the problem?"
Inuyasha thought for a second, his growl vanishing into contemplation. "Oh...I dunno. I guess...seems to me I don't have to worry anymore, because Kagome said she--" He cut off abruptly, blushing and swallowing hard.
"Kagome said what?" Shirokiba leaned forward. "What did she say?"
"She...she said...she loves me."
It was the faintest of whispers, yet Shirokiba caught everything. "Congratulations, mutt--you don't have to worry about Kouga at all, and--"
"But she was only talking in her sleep. Dreaming," Inuyasha said plaintively. "I don't know if..."
Shirokiba regarded the young hanyou sympathetically. "Then it's even more certain. Inuyasha, dreams don't lie. You should know that."
The hanyou flinched. "But..."
"Besides, pup, you claimed her. You have the right to tell Kouga to back off."
Inuyasha looked at him. "What are you talking about?"
"Everything--how you made her part of your Pack, how you protect her and feed her...even the nose-nip in the cave."
Inuyasha's breath caught. "She told you about that?"
"Not voluntarily. I asked her."
"I...I didn't...even know...!"
"You didn't know what you were doing?" Shirokiba smiled gently. "Simple--you were claiming her. It can mean a lot of things, but basically you were telling her that she belongs to you and you're going to take care of her."
"But...!" Inuyasha's face was crimson as he drew away from his companion.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of," Shirokiba said with a dismissing wave of one hand. "You're male, she's female, you both like each other--it's well within your rights to make a claim."
"But...she's human!" Inuyasha finally managed to blurt. "She can't understand that kind of stuff! She'd think I'm...some kind of animal!"
"You'd be surprised, little mutt--I'm fairly certain she understands more than you think," Shirokiba retorted wryly.
"Since when do you know everything?"
Shirokiba just chuckled.
"Bastard," Inuyasha growled. "Why are you so stuck on me and Kagome?"
Shirokiba's laugh cut off--had the hanyou caught on to his gambit? "Am I? I'm sorry--I guess I just want to see you happy. Trying to be a parent and all...hell, am I turning into a matchmaking old biddy?"
"Keh." Inuyasha turned away and leaned back on the tree-trunk. "I have three women after me--one wants to drag me to Hell, one wants to show me off and screw me, and the other...just loves me."
"And Kouga's on your case about Kagome," Shirokiba sighed. "I'm sorry he's making your life difficult. I'll talk to him tomorrow."
Inuyasha found the wherewithal to smile at that thought. "Heh. I'd love to see the look on his face when you chew him out."
"Chew him out? Hell no--I don't need to do that. I'll just tell him she's yours."
"No!" Inuyasha glared at the wolf-dog. "That asshole doesn't need to--"
"Stop." Shirokiba's firm tone made him clamp his fangs shut. "This is going to degenerate into a pointless argument if you continue. I'm going to talk to my little brother when he gets here tomorrow morning--I have a feeling he's going to show up--and I want you to stay far away from it. Do you understand?"
"But--!"
"Do. You. Understand."
"Yes," Inuyasha growled sullenly, pouting as the wolf-dog's sharp tones forced him to obedience. "Fine. Go play with the yaseookami. I don't care. I don't even want to be around when you do."
"Thank you."
"Keh."
Shirokiba yawned widely, rubbing at a weary eye. "And now that I've stayed up far too many hours to educate you, mutt, I'm going to sleep." He rose from his branch and walked out along its length, the limb swaying slightly beneath his weight. "I'll see you in the morning."
"Shirokiba..."
"Hn?"
"Thank you for...telling me all that..."
"No problem," the wolf-dog replied easily. "Anything else you need to ask, go ahead--but do it tomorrow. I'm bushed."
Inuyasha snorted. "Get off my tree."
"G'night, mutt," Shirokiba laughed softly--and with that, he leaped back to his own tree and settled in to his platform nest for the night.
Inuyasha turned on the branch, seeking a more comfortable position, gazing at the stars once more. What with Kagome being absent and all that Shirokiba had told him, sleep still remained far away. With a disgusted rumble, he realized he'd probably be staring at the moon all night long, tired or not.
He silently cursed his own heart for missing Kagome so much.
Hurrying away through Inuyasha's Forest, her Stealth Jewl thrumming with undetectable power, Ginnezu smiled in predatory satisfaction. What useful information! So...the mighty wolf-dog had a soft spot for a baby brother, did he?
She'd left right after she heard that--the rest was unimportant. What a wonderful opportunity this presented! Now she had some leverage on the wolf-dog--someone he cared about, someone she could hurt. She couldn't touch Inuyasha...but the younger brother was fair game--and through him she could take her revenge on Shirokiba for butting into her affairs.
And if she only wounded the little Wolf, that would keep Shirokiba away from the village trying to save him--at least long enough for her to make her move. What a strategy she had--it was all just so perfect.
Grinning like a mad tiger, Ginnezu continued on her silent way. Tonight would be a busy night; she had plans to make, allies to round up, and a whole lot of damage to do.
(Some of the wolf-dog characterization concepts were inspired by Lois Crisler's Arctic Wild. Read it!)