The Tale of the Princess of the Crescent Moon

Twelve

"It's Izayoi! Something's wrong!"

Inuyasha jumped up from the breakfast table and dashed out the door, Kagome close on his heels. They ran headlong up the stairs to Izayoi's room and threw the door open; sitting on the bed was their daughter, tears streaming down her face, her hands shaking as she clutched at her hair.

"Mommy! Mommy! What's happened to my hair?" she shrieked. She fitfully tugged at her long hair, which was no longer its usual white: it had turned a rich, lustrous, obsidian black.

"Oh dear," said Kagome, as she sat next to her daughter on the bed, untangled Izayoi's hands from her hair, and gently took her daughter's shaking hands between her own. "It's going to be OK, Iza-chan. It's perfectly normal—there's nothing wrong with you. I'm so sorry—we should have talked about this—it's our fault that you're so upset."

"Mom...I can't hear you right. You sound funny. Something's wrong with my ears, too!" Her hands went to the top of her head where her canine ears normally protruded from her hair—and finding nothing, she began screaming anew. "My ears! Where are my ears?" she shrieked.

"Hush, Iza-chan." Kagome gently but firmly picked up her daughter and lifted her to the mirror, where she pulled back Izayoi's hair to reveal a perfectly normal human ear. "Look, Iza-chan, there they are, just where they should be. And look," she said, pulling her own hair back, "they look just like mine. You see?"

"Mommy..." Izayoi was trying desperately to control herself, but without much success, and tears leaked steadily down her face. "I don't understand. What's wrong with me? What happened?"

Kagome sighed. "Nothing's wrong with you, Iza-chan. It's just that..."

Inuyasha interrupted her. "You're a hanyou," he said bluntly. "Just like me."

Izayoi looked puzzled. "Daddy," she asked, wiping her nose on her sleeve, "What's a hanyou?"

Inuyasha's heart nearly stopped. He remembered asking his mother the same question; it was the first time he had ever seen his mother cry.

Before he could summon a response, Kagome spoke. "It's something very special and very wonderful," she said soothingly. "Your grandfather—Inuyasha's father—was a youkai; a very great and very powerful youkai, the greatest of all the dog clan. His mother was a human...just like me. Your grandfather had long white hair and dog's ears, like your father; your grandmother had black hair and human ears, like mine. Your father has his father's hair and ears...and you have your father's hair and ears. Most of the time, that is."

"Once a month," Inuyasha said, "you become fully human. Your youkai body, your power, it all...goes to sleep for a while. At the end of the day, you'll be back to normal...but for the day, you're human: weak and powerless."

"Humans aren't totally weak and powerless," Kagome hastened to add, glaring at Inuyasha, "but your father's right: you don't have your full strength."

"Does that happen to you, too, Daddy?" Izayoi asked.

"Yeah, it does," he admitted. "We always hid it from you so you wouldn't get scared. But every month, for one night...I look just like you do now."

"I hate this," shouted Izayoi, stamping her foot with rage. "I hate this. I don't want to be a hanyou. I want to be just like I was."

"I'm sorry, Iza-chan," said Kagome, trying to comfort her daughter. "I'm sorry we didn't tell you about this before it happened. We didn't think you'd understand, and we weren't even sure it would happen to you. I'm sorry this was such a shock." Kagome took the brush from the bedside table and began working the tangles out of Izayoi's hair. "You know that we love you, no matter what you look like...but your black hair is very beautiful, you know." She smiled as she smoothed out the knots that Izayoi had wrung into her hair. "Your black hair is even more beautiful than your father's when he's in human form. It's just lovely...oh, my sweet little black-haired girl!" Kagome squealed happily and hugged Izayoi tightly.

"Oh, Mommy..." Izayoi giggled as she squirmed to escape her mother's unexpected embrace.

"A hanyou's human day is his most precious secret," Inuyasha injected darkly. "You must never tell anyone about this. Ever. Keeping this secret can save your life...and not keeping it can cost you your life."

Izayoi's eyes grew very large at her father's last remark. "Inuyasha," Kagome hissed, "don't scare her so—she's scared enough already." Kagome put down the brush and looked her daughter right in the eye. "He's right, though—you can't tell anyone about this."

"What about Grandma? And Uncle Souta? And Shippou-chan?" Izayoi asked.

"They're OK," said Inuyasha. "They know about me already. Miroku and Sango, too—but absolutely nobody else. I've had enough problems in my day with all sorts of people finding out my secret," he grumbled, "and I don't want you to have the same troubles."

"Well now," said Kagome sunnily, as she straightened her daughter's nightshirt. "Why don't you go into the bathroom and wash all those tears away, then I'll bring you breakfast up here so you don't even have to go downstairs. You don't have to go to school today, or even go outside if you don't want to. When the sun goes down, everything will be back to normal." Kagome clapped her hands happily. "And maybe this afternoon, you can try on some of my old kimonos—they'll look so cute on you, with your black hair!"

"O-kay, Mommy," said Izayoi, grumpily.

Kagome sighed with relief. She hoped that the return of Izayoi's normal "morning grumpies," as she called them, were a sign that things would soon return to normal. Kagome kissed Izayoi on the forehead and patted her affectionately as she left for the bathroom.

"Well, that went about as well as it could have," said Kagome as she made her daughter's bed.

"It was so long ago..." said Inuyasha. "I had forgotten exactly when it happened. But yeah, I was about this age...at least she had us to explain things. I didn't have anyone who could help at all...unless you count Myoga," he continued, shuddering with irritation at the memory, "Which I don't."

"Well, all we have to do is make it through the day," Kagome said. "The day before the night of the full moon, I guess, is her day," she mused, looking at Izayoi's wall calendar. "Well, at least it's not the same as yours." Kagome sighed heavily. "She's getting older every day, Inuyasha," she said, "and our little girl is starting to look like a young woman, too. Maybe I'd better have a talk with her about a few other matters, before she gets another nasty surprise."

"What are you talking about?" asked Inuyasha. "A hanyou only has one day a month to worry about—what else is there to deal with?

Kagome opened her mouth and started to speak, then thought better of it. "Some things," she said as she scratched Inuyasha behind the ears fondly, "only a mother can handle."